Roma Anayasası

CKM 2018-20 / Aziz Yardımlı


 

 

Roma Anayasası




SİTE İÇİ ARAMA       
 
  Cursus Honorum

🛑 Roma Cumhuriyeti Anayasası

🛑 Terimler

Terimler

  • imperium — en yüksek güç; bir orduya komuta etme; yasayı yorumlama ve yürütme; ve ölüm cezası verme;
  • curia (çğ. curiae) — yurttaşların ilk gruplandırılması (ilkin 30 adet curiae (klan) vardı ve bunar comitia curiaeyi oluşturuyordu; sonra her Roma yurttaşının birine ait olması gerektiğine karar verildi);
  • cursus honorum — “onur yolu” ya da “görevler merdiveni”
  • ordine — patrisyen ve plebler sınıfından her biri (plebler ve patrisyenler arasındaki sınıf kavgası “düzenlerin çatışması” olarak adlandırılır).
  • secessio (ayrılma) — sayıca çoğunlukta olan plebler bunalım zamanlarında Roma kentinden “ayrılma” stratejisini uygulayarak etkili olmaya çalıştılar.

 



🛑 Sınıflar (ordine, “order :: düzen”)

Patrisyen (patricius; çoğul: patricii; patre :: baba)

  • Dinsel ve politik görevler Roma yurttaşlarının çok ayrıcalıklı aristokratik sınıfı olan patrisyenlere aittir.
  • Üyelik varsıllık ile değil soyluluk/kalıtım ile belirlenir (çok varsıllaşsalar bile plebler pleb kalır).
Pleb (plebs; çoğul: plebes)

  • Patrisyen olmayan tüm Roma yurttaşları pleblerdir.
  • Başlangıçta pleblerin patrisyenler ile evlenmesine izin verilmiyordu.
  • Plebler ilkin politik olarak kıyısal idiler.
  • İÖ 494'te İlk Ayrılma.
  • 5'inci yüzyılda Plebler kendi konsüllerini örgütlediler (councilium plebis).
  • Pleb tribünü plebler konsülü tarafından seçilir.


The Secession of the People to the Mons Sacer, engraving by B. Barloccini, 1849.
 
Sınıfların çatışması (İÖ 5 ve 4’üncü yüzyıllar)

  • Büyük ölçüde kansız ve şiddetsiz olan "Sınıf Çatışması"nda önemli dönüm noktaları
  • İÖ 494 — Pleblerin İlk Ayrılması (secessio plebis); bu sırada kendi meclislerini (Concilium Plebis) kurdular ve kende magisterleri olan Tribünleri ve pleb Aedilleri seçtiler
  • İÖ 450 — Roma yasasının ilk kodlanması olan On İki Tablet Yasaları için geleneksel tarih;
  • İÖ 445 — patrisyenlerin ve pleblerin birbirleri ile evlenmesine izin verildi;
  • İÖ 367 — plebler konsüllük için seçilme hakkını kazandı;
  • İÖ 342 — iki Konsülden birinin pleb olması yasal olarak zorunlu kılındı;
  • İÖ 339 — iki Sensörden birinin pleb olması yasal olarak zorunlu kılındı;
  • İÖ 300 — devlet görev konumları da olan rahipliklerin yarısını pleblere ayıran yasa yürürlüğe girdi;
  • İÖ 287 — Üçüncü Ayrılma ile, tüm plebisitlerin bütün Roma devleti için yasa gücünü taşıması önlemi Concilium Plebiste kabul edildi.

 

  • Düzenlerin çatışması sürecinde özsel olarak kazanılan şey bir doğuştan aristokrasi aygıtının kaldtırılması ve yerine politik görevler ve başlıca toprakta olmak üzere varsıllık koşuluna dayalı bir aristokrasinin geçirilmesi oldu.
  • Çatışma Roma toplumunun hiyerarşik ve sınıf-eğilimli yapısını ortadan kaldırmadı ve toplumun yoksul kesimlerinin yaşamlarını iyileştirmedi.

 



🛑 Konsüller

Konsüller

  • Cumhuriyet döneminde Konsüller birincil egemenler idiler.
  • Her yıl konsüllük yetkesini üstlenecek iki birey seçilirdi.
  • İki yıl ardarda konsüllük yasaktı.
  • Konsüllerden biri ötekinin kararını veto edebilirdi.
  • Konsüllerin imperium gücünü ele geçimelerini durduracak önlemler vardı.

 

 



🛑 Magisterler

 
Magisterler

  • 2 konsül — Cumhuriyetin seçim ile gelen en yüksek görevlisi; Senato ve meclisler üzerinde başkanlık yetkileri olan birincil magisterler; yasamayı başlatır ve yönetirler; askeri seferlerde generaller olarak hizmet eder ve dış ilişkilerde Romayı temsil ederler; iveğen durumlarda 6 ay kadar geçerli olmak üzere anayasayı askıya alan diktatör atayabilirler; emekli konsüller olarak prokonsül sanını üstlenirler.
  • 8 praetor — birincil olarak mahkemelerde yargıçlar olarak hizmet ederler, ama Senato ve meclisleri toplantıya çağırabilirler; Roma'da bulunmayan konsüllerin yönetsel ödevlerini üstlenirler; emekli praetorler olarak propraetor sanını üstlenir ve bir ilin yönetimine atanırlar;
  • 2 sensor — her beş yılda bir 1,5 yıllık süre için seçilirler; yurttaşların sayımını yapar ve vergi için mülkiyet değerlendirmelerini yerine getirirler; devlet sözleşmelerini yaparlar.
  • 4 aedil — kamu yapılarının, kamu oyunlarının ve Roma kentindeki tahıl yedeğinin gözetimini üstlenirler; 2 aedilin pleblerden ve öteki ikisinin iki düzenden birinden seçilmesi gerekiyordu;
  • 10 tribün — keyfi magisterlere karşı pleblerin haklarını korumak için yaratılan konuma seçilecek adayların pleblerden gelmesi gerekiyordu; magisterlerin her kararını veto etme ve her yönetim kararını durdurma yetkileri vardı. Fiziksel saldırıdan bağışık idiler ve her saldırgan hemen ölüm ile cezalandırılıyordu. Senatoyu ve meclisleri toplayabilir ve yasamayı başlatabilirlerdi.
  • 20 quaestor — Devlet hazinesinin finans durumunu yönetir ve illerde değişik yetkiler ile hizmet görürler; quaestor seçilen herkes otomatik olarak Senato üyeliğine seçilme hakkını kazanır.
 

 



🛑 Senato

Senato

  • Senato Krallık, Cumhuriyet ve İmparatorluk dönemlerinde gücünü ve etkisini değişen ölçülerde sürdürdü.
  • Batıda Senato İS 603'te son kararını çıkardı; Doğuda 14'üncü yüzyıla dek sürdü.
  • "Senex" (yaşlı) sözcüğünden türer.
  • Romulus tarafından yaratıldı ve başlangıçta 100 üyeli idi.
  • Krallık döneminde yetkisi krala danışmanlık yapma ile sınırlı idi (senatus consultum).
  • Cumhuriyet döneminde magisterlerin seçiminde en büyük gücü elinde tuttu; kamu harcamalarını denetliyor, ordu komutanlarını ve illerin valilerini atıyor, ve son onamaları meclisler tarafından yapılacak yasaları tartışıyor ve geçiriyordu.
  • Cumhuriyet döneminde politik güç tekeli ve rahipler üzerinde yetke aristokratların ve patrisyenlerin elinde idi.
  • Senato sensorlar tarafından uzaklaştırılmadıkları sürece yaşam boyu hizmet gören 600 magisterden ve eski-magisterden oluşuyordu; Sezar üye sayısını 900'e çıkardı.
  • Senatörlük için minumum gerek daha öncek bir tarihte quaestor olarak seçilmiş olmaktı.
  • Normal olarak Roma Forumunda bulunan ve Curia denilen bir yapıda toplanıyordu.
 

 



🛑 Meclisler

Meclisler

  • Tam Roma yurttaşları olan erkeklerden oluşuyordu.
  • Oylar bireyler olarak değil, gruplar olarak veriliyordu.

 

  • Curiae Meclisi (comitia curiata) En eski meclis idi; geç Cumhuriyette etkinliği başlıca kabilesel ve törensel işlevlere indirgendi.
  • Centuries Meclisi (comitia centuriata) "Centuriler" denilen yurttaşların (= askerlerin) bloklara bölünmüş meclisi; konsülleri, praetorları, sensorları seçiyor, savaş açıyor, yurttaşlar için üst başvuru mahkemesi olarak iş görüyordu; 193 centuri varsıllığa göre belirleniyordu; en varsıl centuriler en küçük olanlar olduğu için, bunlarda bireysel oylar en büyük etkiyi taşıyordu.
  • Kabileler Meclisi (comitia tributa) Kabileler denilen bloklara ayrılmış yurttaşlar meclisi; her kabilenin bir oy hakkı vardı; hem patrisyenler hem de plebler oy kullanıyordu; tüm geri kalan magisterleri seçiyordu; yasalar üzerine evet ya da hayır oyunu veriyordu; her kabilenin bir oyu olduğu için comitia curiatadan daha az aristokratik idi; 35 kabile başlangıçta etnik olarak belirlenirken sonra doğum koşuluna bağlandı.
  • Pleb Konsülü (concilium plebis) Yalnızca pleblere açıktı, curia temelinde örgütleniyordu, ve yalnızca pleblere açık magisterleri seçebiliyordu (tribünler ve pleb aediller); İÖ 287’den sonra concilium plebis tarafından alınan önlemler (plebisita) bütün devleti bağlayan yasanın gücünü kazandı.


Chart Showing the Checks and Balances in the Constitution of the Roman Republic
LINK

 



🛑 Cursus honorum

Cursus honorum



Kırmızı metin “curule magisterleri” belirtir.

Bir asteriks ile işaretlenen görevler imperium yetkisini taşır.

 
   
  • Çizge geç Cumhuriyet döneminde politik tırmanışın (cursus honorum) basamaklarını gösterir.
  • Doğru merdiven kuramda tüm özgür erkek yurttaşlara açık olan tipik ilerleme sürecini betimler.
  • Basamaklar en alt görev olan qauestorluğun seçiminden başlayarak en yükseği olan konsüle doğru ilerler. (Cicero soylu bir aileden gelmemesine karşın bir kuraldışı uygulama ile Konsül seçildi.)
  • “Pro” sanı ile başlayan magisterler görev sürelerini tamamladıktan sonra illerin yönetimi ile görevlendirilebiliyordu.
  • İmparatorluk döneminde bu konumlardan çoğu varlığını sürdürdü ve imperium sanı imparator için ayrıldı.
  • Cursus honorum yalnızca erkeklere ayrılmıştı.
  • Roma tarihi boyunca kadınlar politik güç üstlenememiş olsalar da consulares feminae olarak dolaylı yollardan etkili oldular.

 

Yapının İlkeleri
  • Bu ilkeler başlıca İÖ dört ve beşinci yüzyıllar sırasında iki toplumsal sınıf, patrisyenler ve plebler arasındaki savaşımın (“düzenlerin çatışması”) dürtüsü altında evrimlendi.
  • Denetim ve dengeler dizgesi:
  1. her magisterlik en az iki üye;
  2. sınırlı görev süreleri (genellikle bir yıl; 2 ya da 3 yıl sonra daha yüksek bir göreve seçilme; aynı göreve 10 yıl sonra seçilme).
  • Dizgenin kuramda katılımcı demokrasi olmasına karşın,
  1. bir elit sınıfın dayattığı oligarşik öğeler etkili idi;
  2. görevlerin seçim yoluyla belirlenmesinde ve tribünlerin bir plebler topluluğunun istencini anlatmasında temsilci öğeler etkili idi.
  • Başlıca eski magisterlerden oluşan Senato biricik sürekli yönetim erki idi; tartışma yalnızca Senatoda olanaklı idi.
  • Senato tüm finansı, dış ilişkileri, devlet yönetimini denetliyordu ve en yüksek toplumsal saygınlık Senatoya aitti.
 
 

 



 

 





Cursus honorum

Cursus honorum (W)

The cursus honorum (Latin for "course of honor", or more colloquially “ladder of offices”) was the sequential order of public offices held by aspiring politicians in both the Roman Republic and the early Roman Empire. It was designed for men of senatorial rank. The cursus honorum comprised a mixture of military and political administration posts. Each office had a minimum age for election. There were minimum intervals between holding successive offices and laws forbade repeating an office.

These rules were altered and flagrantly ignored in the course of the last century of the Republic. For example, Gaius Marius held consulships for five years in a row between 104 BC and 100 BC. He was consul seven times in all, also serving in 107 and 86. Officially presented as opportunities for public service, the offices often became mere opportunities for self-aggrandizement. The reforms of Sulla required a ten-year interval before holding the same office again for another term.

To have held each office at the youngest possible age (suo anno, "in his own year") was considered a great political success. For instance, to miss out on a praetorship at 39 meant that one could not become consul at 42. Cicero expressed extreme pride not only in being a novus homo ("new man"; comparable to a "self-made man") who became consul even though none of his ancestors had ever served as a consul, but also in having become consul "in his year".

Military tribune

Military tribune (W)

The cursus honorum began with ten years of military duty in the Roman cavalry (the equites) or in the staff of a general who was a relative or a friend of the family. The ten years of service were intended to be mandatory in order to qualify for political office, but in practice, the rule was not always rigidly applied.

A more prestigious position was that of a military tribune. In the early Roman Republic, 24 men at the age of around 20 were elected by the Tribal Assembly to serve as commanders on a rotating basis; each commander retained six tribunes on his staff. Tribunes could also be appointed by the consuls or by military commanders in the field as necessary. After the reforms of Gaius Marius in 107 BC, the six tribunes acted as staff officers for the legionary legatus and were appointed tasks and command of units of troops whenever the need arose.

The subsequent steps of the cursus honorum were achieved by direct election every year.

Tribune (B)

Tribune, Latin Tribunus, any of various military and civil officials in ancient Rome.

Military tribunes (tribuni militum) were originally infantry commanders. Under the early republic there were six to a legion; some were appointed by the consuls (chief executives) or military commanders, and others were elected by the people. Under the empire (after 27 BC) the military tribunate was a preliminary part of a senatorial or an equestrian career and subject to the emperor’s nomination. Tribunes commanded bodyguard units and auxiliary cohorts.

The tribuni plebis (tribunes of the plebs, or lower classes) were in existence by the 5th century BC; their office developed into one of the most powerful in Rome. The exact date of its institution, the original mode of election, and the original extent of its powers are uncertain. From 471 BC the tribunes of the plebs were elected in the plebeian assembly (concilium plebis), over which they presided, and thus could express, and agitate for, plebeian demands. Their power was exercised through the veto (intercessio), which could invalidate the acts of consuls and lower magistrates and of their own colleagues. Their persons were legally inviolable. By 450 they were 10 in number. It was their duty to protect persons against the acts of magistrates, but they could also initiate prosecutions of offenders against the state. From 300 BC most legislation was introduced by tribunes because the legislative process in the plebeian assembly was less cumbersome than in the centuriate assembly (see comitia). After 287 BC, when the people they represented began to rise in the social scale, some tribunes began to use their powers to thwart more sweeping popular proposals. Others, like Gaius and Tiberius Gracchus in the 2nd century BC, continued to champion them, even in the area of land reform and debtor relief. Their powers were curtailed by Sulla, then restored by Pompey in the 1st century BC. Under the empire (after 27 BC) the tribunes themselves were without authority, but the “tribunician power” (tribunicia potestas) was held by the emperor, and was a major element in his authority. By virtue of it, he had personal inviolability, could veto measures freely, summon the organs of government, and propose decrees and legislation. He numbered the years of his power by it, thus exploiting to the full the old democratic tradition of the champion of the plebs.

 

 



Quaestor

Quaestor (W)

The first official post was that of quaestor. Candidates had to be at least 30 years old. However, men of patrician rank could subtract two years from this and other minimum age requirements.

Twenty quaestors served in the financial administration at Rome or as second-in-command to a governor in the provinces. They could also serve as the paymaster for a legion. A young man who obtained this job was expected to become a very important official. An additional task of all quaestors was the supervision of public games. As a quaestor, an official was allowed to wear the toga praetexta, but was not escorted by lictors, nor did he possess imperium.

Quaestor (W)

Quaestor, (Latin: “investigator”) also spelled questor, Latin plural quaestors or quaestores, the lowest-ranking regular magistrate in ancient Rome, whose traditional responsibility was the treasury. During the royal period, the kings appointed quaestores parricidii (quaestors with judicial powers) to handle cases of murder.

With the advent of the republic in the year 509 BCE, each of the two consuls, who at first were called praetors, appointed a quaestor to be the custodian of the public treasury. After 447 BCE the two quaestors were elected each year by the tribal assembly. The quaestorship became the first magistracy sought by an ambitious young man. Later in the century it was decreed that plebeians could hold the office, and the number of quaestors was increased to four. Two served as quartermasters to the two consuls when they were in the field, and the other two stayed in Rome to supervise the financial affairs of the treasury.

As Rome proceeded with its conquest of Italy, four more were added and given responsibility for raising taxes and securing recruits from the conquered territories. Each provincial governor had his own quaestor as quartermaster and tax collector. In the provinces the quaestors sometimes performed military functions as well.

 



Aedile

Aedile (W)

At 36 years of age, proquaestor could stand for election to one of the aedile positions. Of these aediles, two were plebeian and two were patrician, with the patrician aediles called Curule Aediles. The plebeian aediles were elected by the Plebeian Council and the curule aediles were either elected by the Tribal Assembly or appointed by the reigning consul. The aediles had administrative responsibilities in Rome. They had to take care of the temples (whence their title, from the Latin aedes, "temple"), organize games, and be responsible for the maintenance of the public buildings in Rome. Moreover, they took charge of Rome’s water and food supplies; in their capacity as market superintendents, they served sometimes as judges in mercantile affairs.

The Aedile was the supervisor of public works; the words “edifice” and “edification” stem from the same root. He oversaw the public works, temples and markets. Therefore, the Aediles would have been in some cooperation with the current Censors, who had similar or related duties. Also they oversaw the organization of festivals and games (ludi), which made this a very sought-after office for a career minded politician of the late republic, as it was a good means of gaining popularity by staging spectacles.

Curule Aediles were added at a later date in the 4th century BC, and their duties do not differ substantially from plebeian aediles. However, unlike plebeian aediles, curule aediles were allowed certain symbols of rank — the sella curulis or 'curule chair,' for example—and only patricians could stand for election to curule aedile. This later changed, and both Plebeians and Patricians could stand for Curule Aedileship.

The elections for Curule Aedile were at first alternated between Patricians and Plebeians, until late in the 2nd century BC, when the practice was abandoned and both classes became free to run during all years.

While part of the cursus honorum, this step was optional and not required to hold future offices. Though the office was usually held after the quaestorship and before the praetorship, there are some cases with former praetors serving as aediles.

Aedile (B)

Aedile, Latin Aedilis, plural Aediles, (from Latin aedes, “temple”), magistrate of ancient Rome who originally had charge of the temple and cult of Ceres. At first the aediles were two officials of the plebeians, created at the same time as the tribunes (494 BC), whose sanctity they shared. These magistrates were elected in the assembly of the plebeians. In 366 two curule (“higher”) aediles were created. These were at first patricians; but those of the next year were plebeians and so on year by year alternately until, in the 2nd century BC, the system of alternation between classes ceased. They were elected in the assembly of the tribes, with the consul presiding. The privileges of the curule aediles included a fringed toga, a curule chair, and the right to ancestral masks — privileges perhaps extended to the plebeian aediles after 100 BC. Aediles ranked between tribunes and praetors, a greater proportion of the curule ones attaining the consulship, but the office was not necessary for advancement in a senatorial career.

The functions of the aediles were threefold: first, the care of the city (repair of temples, public buildings, streets, sewers, and aqueducts; supervision of traffic; supervision of public decency; and precaution against fires); second, the charge of the provision markets and of weights and measures and the distribution of grain, a function for which Julius Caesar added two plebeian aediles called ceriales; third, organization of certain public games, the Megalesian and the Roman games being under the curule aediles and the Plebeian games as well as those of Ceres and Flora being under the plebeian. They had judicial powers and could impose fines.

Augustus transferred the care of the games and the judicial functions to the praetors and the care of the city to appointed boards and to the prefects of the watch and of the city. Under the imperial regime the office became a step in the senatorial career for plebeians until it disappeared after the reign of Alexander Severus in the 3rd century AD.

 



Praetor

Praetor (W)

After serving either as quaestor or as aedile, a man of 39 years could run for praetor. The number of praetors elected varied through history, generally increasing with time. During the republic, six or eight were generally elected each year to serve judicial functions throughout Rome and other governmental responsibilities. In the absence of the consuls, a praetor would be given command of the garrison in Rome or in Italy. Also, a praetor could exercise the functions of the consuls throughout Rome, but their main function was that of a judge. They would preside over trials involving criminal acts, grant court orders and validate "illegal" acts as acts of administering justice. A praetor was escorted by six lictors, and wielded imperium. After a term as praetor, the magistrate would serve as a provincial governor with the title of propraetor, wielding propraetor imperium, commanding the province's legions, and possessing ultimate authority within his province(s).

Two of the praetors were more prestigious than the others. The first was the Praetor Peregrinus, who was the chief judge in trials involving one or more foreigners. The other was the Praetor Urbanus, the chief judicial office in Rome. He had the power to overturn any verdict by any other courts, and served as judge in cases involving criminal charges against provincial governors. The Praetor Urbanus was not allowed to leave the city for more than ten days. If one of these two Praetors was absent from Rome, the other would perform the duties of both.

Praetor (B)

Praetor, plural Praetors, or Praetores, in ancient Rome, a judicial officer who had broad authority in cases of equity, was responsible for the production of the public games, and, in the absence of consuls, exercised extensive authority in the government.

The institution of consuls arose c. 510 BC with the expulsion of the kings. There were two consuls, who not only controlled the treasury and held supreme authority in government but also led troops, necessitating their absence from Rome for extended periods. Originally, the title praetor was restricted to a magistrate, but c. 337 BC the office was opened to plebeians. Until c. 242 BC there was only one praetor who handled matters of equity between Roman citizens. At that time a second praetor was established to handle suits in which one or both parties were foreigners. The original office was renamed praetor urbanus, and the new office was called praetor peregrinus. At various times subsequently, the number of praetors varied. About 227 BC two more peregrine praetors were appointed for Sicily and Sardinia, and about 197 BC two more were appointed to administer Spain. Early in the 1st century BC the consul Lucius Cornelius Sulla increased the number of praetors to eight. Two continued to preside over civil matters while the six additional ones were assigned to specific courts: extortion, bribery, embezzlement, treason, assault, murder, and forgery. After one year of service they customarily went on to become provincial governors.

From early times the praetor as a civil administrator issued an edict stating the procedure by which he would be guided. About 67 BC, he became bound by law to follow his edict. Ultimately, the edict, as modified over centuries, became one of the most important factors in molding and adapting the Roman law to new conditions and to the principles of equity and good faith. Under the emperor Hadrian in the 2nd century AD a “perpetual edict” was codified and published. By that time, however, praetorian jurisdiction had been circumscribed by the emperor. In the late Roman Empire most praetorships disappeared, but the praetor urbanus remained, with the responsibility of providing the public games.

 



Consul

Consul (W)

The office of consul was the most prestigious {?} of all, and represented the summit of a successful career. The minimum age was 42 for plebeians and 40 for patricians. Years were identified by the names of the two consuls elected for a particular year; for instance, M. Messalla et M. Pisone consulibus, "in the consulship of Messalla and Piso," dates an event to 61 BC. Consuls were responsible for the city’s political agenda, commanded large-scale armies and controlled important provinces. The consuls served for only a year (a restriction intended to limit the amassing of power by individuals) and could only rule when they agreed, because each consul could veto the other’s decision.

The consuls would alternate monthly as the chairman of the Senate. They also were the supreme commanders in the Roman army, with each being granted two legions during their consular year. Consuls also exercised the highest juridical power in the Republic, being the only office with the power to override the decisions of the Praetor Urbanus. Only laws and the decrees of the Senate or the People’s assembly limited their powers, and only the veto of a fellow consul or a tribune of the plebs could supersede their decisions. ]

A consul was escorted by twelve lictors, held imperium and wore the toga praetexta. Because the consul was the highest executive office within the Republic, they had the power to veto any action or proposal by any other magistrate, save that of the Tribune of the Plebs. After a consulship, a consul was assigned one of the more important provinces and acted as the governor in the same way that a Propraetor did, only owning Proconsular imperium. A second consulship could only be attempted after an interval of 10 years to prevent one man holding too much power.

Consul (B)

Consul, Latin Consul, plural Consules, in ancient Rome, either of the two highest of the ordinary magistracies in the ancient Roman Republic. After the fall of the kings (c. 509 BC) the consulship preserved regal power in a qualified form. Absolute authority was expressed in the consul’s imperium (q.v.), but its arbitrary exercise was limited: the consuls, nominated by the Senate and elected by the people in the Comitia Centuriata (a popular assembly), held office for only a year, and each consul had power of veto over the other’s decisions. After the establishment of other magistracies, especially the censorship and tribuneship, consular authority was further limited. Consuls, however, were in a very real sense the heads of state. They commanded the army, convened and presided over the Senate and the popular assemblies and executed their decrees, and represented the state in foreign affairs. They retained important prerogatives in administration and in criminal law, and their office was invested with the sella curulis (a special chair of office) and an escort of 12 lictors. After 367 BC at least one of the consuls had to be a plebeian, though in practice the consulship was usually limited to wealthy and noble families with distinguished records of public service. When their terms expired, consuls generally were appointed to serve as governors of provinces. These could be and often were profitable sinecures; in the late years of the republic, provincial governors used their unlimited powers to enrich themselves at every turn. Although the office of consulship remained after the collapse of the republic (27 BC), it had lost most of its former power. The appointment of consuls passed from the hands of the people to the state; later yet it fell to the emperor to name consuls.

 



Censor

Censor (W)

After a term as consul, the final step in the Cursus Honorum was the office of censor. This was the only office in the Roman Republic whose term was a period of eighteen months instead of the usual twelve. Censors were elected every five years and although the office held no military imperium, it was considered a great honour. The censors took a regular census of the people and then apportioned the citizens into voting classes on the basis of income and tribal affiliation. The censors enrolled new citizens in tribes and voting classes as well. The censors were also in charge of the membership roll of the Senate, every five years adding new senators who had been elected to the requisite offices. Censors could also remove unworthy members from the Senate. This ability was lost during the dictatorship of Sulla. Censors were also responsible for construction of public buildings and the moral status of the city.

Censors also had financial duties, in that they had to put out to tender projects that were to be financed by the state. Also, the censors were in charge of the leasing out of conquered land for public use and auction. Though this office owned no imperium, meaning no lictors for protection, they were allowed to wear the toga praetexta.

Censor (W)

Censor, plural Censors, or Censores, in ancient Rome, a magistrate whose original functions of registering citizens and their property were greatly expanded to include supervision of senatorial rolls and moral conduct. Censors also assessed property for taxation and contracts, penalized moral offenders by removing their public rights, such as voting and tribe membership, and presided at the lustrum ceremonies of purification at the close of each census. The censorship was instituted in 443 BC and discontinued in 22 BC, when the emperors assumed censorial powers.

The censors, who always numbered two, were elected normally at five-year intervals in the Comitia Centuriata (one of the assemblies in which the Roman people voted). Plebeians became eligible in 351 BC for the originally patrician office. Judgments were passed only with the agreement of both incumbents, and the death or abdication of one resulted in the retirement of the other.



Tribune of the Plebs

Tribune of the Plebs (W)

The office of Tribune of the Plebs was an important step in the political career of plebeians. Patricians could not hold the office. The Tribune was an office first created to protect the right of the common man in Roman politics and served as the head of the Plebeian Council. In the mid-to-late Republic, however, plebeians were often just as, and sometimes more, wealthy and powerful than patricians. Those who held the office were granted sacrosanctity (the right to be legally protected from any physical harm), the power to rescue any plebeian from the hands of a patrician magistrate, and the right to veto any act or proposal of any magistrate, including another tribune of the people and the consuls. The tribune also had the power to exercise capital punishment against any person who interfered in the performance of his duties. The tribunes could even convene a Senate meeting and lay legislation before it and arrest magistrates. Their houses had to remain open for visitors even during the night, and they were not allowed to be more than a day’s journey from Rome. Due to their unique power of sacrosanctity, the Tribune had no need for lictors for protection and owned no imperium, nor could they wear the toga praetexta. For a period after Sulla's reforms, a person who had held the office of Tribune of the Plebs could no longer qualify for any other office, and the powers of the tribunes were more limited, but these restrictions were subsequently lifted.

The plebeian tribunate (B)

According to the annalistic tradition, one of the most important events in the struggle of the orders was the creation of the plebeian tribunate. After being worn down by military service, bad economic conditions, and the rigours of early Rome’s debt law, the plebeians in 494 BC seceded in a body from the city to the Sacred Mount, located three miles from Rome. There they pitched camp and elected their own officials for their future protection. Because the state was threatened with an enemy attack, the Senate was forced to allow the plebeians to have their own officials, the tribunes of the plebs.

Initially there were only 2 tribunes of the plebs, but their number increased to 5 in 471 BC and to 10 in 457 BC. They had no insignia of office, like the consuls, but they were regarded as sacrosanct. Whoever physically harmed them could be killed with impunity. They had the right to intercede on a citizen’s behalf against the action of a consul, but their powers were valid only within one mile from the pomerium. They convoked the tribal assembly and submitted bills to it for legislation. Tribunes prosecuted other magistrates before the assembled people for misconduct in office. They could also veto the action of another tribune (veto meaning “I forbid”). Two plebeian aediles served as their assistants in managing the affairs of the city. Although they were thought of as the champions of the people, persons elected to this office came from aristocratic families and generally favoured the status quo. Nevertheless, the office could be and sometimes was used by young aspiring aristocrats to make a name for themselves by taking up populist causes in opposition to the nobility.

Modern scholars disagree about the authenticity of the annalistic account concerning the plebs’ first secession and the creation of the plebeian tribunate. The tradition presented this as the first of three secessions, the other two allegedly occurring in 449 and 287 BC. The second secession is clearly fictitious. Many scholars regard the first one as a later annalistic invention as well, accepting only the last one as historical. Although the first secession is explained in terms resembling the conditions of the later Gracchan agrarian crisis (see below The reform movement of the Gracchi [133–121 BC]), given the harshness of early Roman debt laws and food shortages recorded by the sources for 492 and 488 BC (information likely to be preserved in contemporary religious records), social and economic unrest could have contributed to the creation of the office. However, the urban-civilian character of the plebeian tribunate complements the extra-urban military nature of the consulship so nicely that the two offices may have originally been designed to function cooperatively to satisfy the needs of the state rather than to be antagonistic to one another.

Tribune (B)

Tribune, Latin Tribunus, any of various military and civil officials in ancient Rome.

Military tribunes (tribuni militum) were originally infantry commanders. Under the early republic there were six to a legion; some were appointed by the consuls (chief executives) or military commanders, and others were elected by the people. Under the empire (after 27 BC) the military tribunate was a preliminary part of a senatorial or an equestrian career and subject to the emperor’s nomination. Tribunes commanded bodyguard units and auxiliary cohorts.

The tribuni plebis (tribunes of the plebs, or lower classes) were in existence by the 5th century BC; their office developed into one of the most powerful in Rome. The exact date of its institution, the original mode of election, and the original extent of its powers are uncertain. From 471 BC the tribunes of the plebs were elected in the plebeian assembly (concilium plebis), over which they presided, and thus could express, and agitate for, plebeian demands. Their power was exercised through the veto (intercessio), which could invalidate the acts of consuls and lower magistrates and of their own colleagues. Their persons were legally inviolable. By 450 they were 10 in number. It was their duty to protect persons against the acts of magistrates, but they could also initiate prosecutions of offenders against the state. From 300 BC most legislation was introduced by tribunes because the legislative process in the plebeian assembly was less cumbersome than in the centuriate assembly (see comitia). After 287 BC, when the people they represented began to rise in the social scale, some tribunes began to use their powers to thwart more sweeping popular proposals. Others, like Gaius and Tiberius Gracchus in the 2nd century BC, continued to champion them, even in the area of land reform and debtor relief. Their powers were curtailed by Sulla, then restored by Pompey in the 1st century BC. Under the empire (after 27 BC) the tribunes themselves were without authority, but the “tribunician power” (tribunicia potestas) was held by the emperor, and was a major element in his authority. By virtue of it, he had personal inviolability, could veto measures freely, summon the organs of government, and propose decrees and legislation. He numbered the years of his power by it, thus exploiting to the full the old democratic tradition of the champion of the plebs.

Treasury tribunes (tribuni aerarii) were probably originally the officials who collected the tribute and distributed the soldiers’ pay in the tribes. After 168 BC they remained a distinct order ranking below the equites.

 



Princeps senatus

Princeps senatus (W)

Another office not officially a step in the cursus honorum was the princeps senatus, an extremely prestigious office for a patrician. The princeps senatus served as the leader of the Senate and was chosen to serve a five-year term by each pair of Censors every five years. Censors could, however, confirm a princeps senatus for a period of another five years. The princeps senatus was chosen from all Patricians who had served as a Consul, with former Censors usually holding the office. The office originally granted the holder the ability to speak first at session on the topic presented by the presiding magistrate, but eventually gained the power to open and close the senate sessions, decide the agenda, decide where the session should take place, impose order and other rules of the session, meet in the name of the senate with embassies of foreign countries, and write in the name of the senate letters and dispatches. This office, like the Tribune, did not own imperium, was not escorted by lictors, and could not wear the toga praetexta.

 



Dictator and magister equitum

Dictator and magister equitum (W)

Of all the offices within the Roman Republic, none granted as much power and authority as the position of dictator, known as the Master of the People. In times of emergency, the Senate would declare that a dictator was required, and the current consuls would appoint a dictator. This was the only decision that could not be vetoed by the Tribune of the Plebs. The dictator was the sole exception to the Roman legal principles of having multiple magistrates in the same office and being legally able to be held to answer for actions in office. Essentially by definition, only one dictator could serve at a time, and no dictator could ever be held legally responsible for any action during his time in office for any reason.

The dictator was the highest magistrate in degree of imperium and was attended by twenty-four lictors (as were the former Kings of Rome). Although his term lasted only six months instead of twelve (except for the Dictatorships of Sulla and Caesar), all other magistrates reported to the dictator (except for the tribunes of the plebs — although they could not veto any of the dictator's acts), granting the dictator absolute authority in both civil and military matters throughout the Republic. The Dictator was free from the control of the Senate in all that he did, could execute anyone without a trial for any reason, and could ignore any law in the performance of his duties. The Dictator was the sole magistrate under the Republic that was truly independent in discharging his duties. All of the other offices were extensions of the Senate's executive authority and thus answerable to the Senate. Since the Dictator exercised his own authority, he did not suffer this limitation, which was the cornerstone of the office's power.

When a Dictator entered office, he appointed to serve as his second-in-command a magister equitum, the Master of the Horse, whose office ceased to exist once the Dictator left office. The magister equitum held Praetorian imperium, was attended by six lictors, and was charged with assisting the Dictator in managing the State. When the Dictator was away from Rome, the magister equitum usually remained behind to administer the city. The magister equitum, like the Dictator, had unchallengeable authority in all civil and military affairs, with his decisions only being overturned by the Dictator himself.

The Dictatorship was definitively abolished in 44 BC after the assassination of Gaius Julius Caesar (Lex Antonia).

Dictator (B)

Dictator, in the Roman Republic, a temporary magistrate with extraordinary powers, nominated by a consul on the recommendation of the Senate and confirmed by the Comitia Curiata (a popular assembly). The dictatorship was a permanent office among some of the Latin states of Italy, but at Rome it was resorted to only in times of military, and later internal, crises. The dictator’s term was set at six months, although he customarily laid down his powers as soon as the crisis passed. He had 24 fasces, the equivalent of both consuls. His first act was to appoint as his immediate subordinate a master of the cavalry (magister equitum). The consuls and other magistrates continued in office during a dictatorship but were subject to the dictator’s authority. By the 3rd century BC the limited term of a dictatorship rendered it impracticable in operations outside of Italy. Moreover, by 300 BC the people had secured the limitation of dictatorial powers by subjecting their use to the right of appeal and to a tribune’s veto. Dictators were then named for lesser functions such as the holding of elections in certain cases.

 



Roman governor

Roman governor (W)

A Roman governor was an official either elected or appointed to be the chief administrator of Roman law throughout one or more of the many provinces constituting the Roman Empire. A Roman governor is also known as a propraetor or proconsul.

The generic term in Roman legal language was Rector provinciae, regardless of the specific titles, which also reflect the province's intrinsic and strategic status, and corresponding differences in authority.

By the time of the early empire, there were two types of provincessenatorial and imperial —and several types of governor would emerge. Only proconsuls and propraetors fell under the classification of promagistrate.

 



 




Roman Senate

Roman Senate (W)


The Curia Julia in the Roman Forum, the seat of the imperial Senate.
 
   

The Roman Senate (Latin: Senātus Rōmānus) was a political institution in ancient Rome. It was one of the most enduring institutions in Roman history, being established in the first days of the city of Rome (traditionally founded in 753 BC). It survived the overthrow of the kings in 509 BC, the fall of the Roman Republic in the 1st century BC, the division of the Roman Empire in 395 AD, the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 AD, and the barbarian rule of Rome in the 5th, 6th, and 7th centuries.

During the days of the kingdom, most of the time the Senate was little more than an advisory council to the king, but it also elected new Roman kings. The last king of Rome, Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, was overthrown following a coup d'état led by Lucius Junius Brutus, who founded the Roman Republic. During the early Republic, the Senate was politically weak, while the various executive magistrates were quite powerful. Since the transition from monarchy to constitutional rule was most likely gradual, it took several generations before the Senate was able to assert itself over the executive magistrates. By the middle Republic, the Senate had reached the apex of its republican power. The late Republic saw a decline in the Senate’s power, which began following the reforms of the tribunes Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus.

After the transition of the Republic into the Principate, the Senate lost much of its political power as well as its prestige. Following the constitutional reforms of the Emperor Diocletian, the Senate became politically irrelevant. When the seat of government was transferred out of Rome, the Senate was reduced to a purely municipal body. This decline in status was reinforced when the emperor Constantine the Great created an additional senate in Constantinople.

After Romulus Augustulus was deposed in 476, the Senate in the West functioned under the rule of Odovacer (476-489) and during Ostrogothic rule (489–535). It was restored after the reconquest of Italy by Justinian I, but ultimately disappeared after AD 603, the date of its last recorded public act. The title "senator" continued into the Middle Ages as a largely meaningless honorific. The Eastern Senate survived in Constantinople through the 14th century.

 



Eastern Roman Senate

Eastern Roman Senate (W)

The Byzantine Senate or Eastern Roman Senate (Σύγκλητος, Synklētos, or Γερουσία, Gerousia) was the continuation of the Roman Senate, established in the 4th century by Constantine I. It survived for centuries, but even with its already limited power that it theoretically possessed, the Senate became increasingly irrelevant until its eventual disappearance circa 14th century.

The Senate of the Eastern Roman Empire originally consisted of Roman senators who happened to live in the East, or those who wanted to move to Constantinople, and a few other bureaucrats who were appointed to the Senate. Constantine offered free land and grain to any Roman Senators who were willing to move to the East. When Constantine founded the Eastern Senate in Byzantium, it initially resembled the councils of important cities like Antioch rather than the Roman Senate. His son Constantius II raised it from the position of a municipal to that of an Imperial body but the Senate in Constantinople had essentially the same limited powers as the Senate in Rome. Constantius II increased the number of Senators to 2,000 by including his friends, courtiers, and various provincial officials.



Senate of the Roman Kingdom

Senate of the Roman Kingdom (W)

The senate was a political institution in the ancient Roman Kingdom. The word senate derives from the Latin word senex, which means “old man”; the word thus means "assembly of elders". The prehistoric Indo-Europeans who settled Italy in the centuries before the legendary founding of Rome in 753 BC were structured into tribal communities, and these communities often included an aristocratic board of tribal elders.

The early Roman family was called a gens or “clan,” and each clan was an aggregation of families under a common living male patriarch, called a pater (the Latin word for "father"). When the early Roman gentes were aggregating to form a common community, the patres from the leading clans were selected for the confederated board of elders that would become the Roman senate. Over time, the patres came to recognize the need for a single leader, and so they elected a king (rex), and vested in him their sovereign power. When the king died, that sovereign power naturally reverted to the patres.

The senate is said to have been created by Rome’s first king, Romulus, initially consisting of 100 men. The descendants of those 100 men subsequently became the patrician class. Rome's fifth king, Lucius Tarquinius Priscus, chose a further 100 senators. They were chosen from the minor leading families, and were accordingly called the patres minorum gentium.

Rome's seventh and final king, Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, executed many of the leading men in the senate, and did not replace them, thereby diminishing their number. However, in 509 BC Rome's first and third consuls, Lucius Junius Brutus and Publius Valerius Publicola chose from amongst the leading equites new men for the senate, these being called conscripti, and thus increased the size of the senate to 300.

The senate of the Roman Kingdom held three principal responsibilities: It functioned as the

  • ultimate repository for the executive power, it served
  • as the king's council, and it functioned
  • as a legislative body in concert with the people of Rome.

 

During the years of the monarchy, the senate's most important function was to elect new kings. While the king was nominally elected by the people, it was actually the senate who chose each new king.

The period between the death of one king and the election of a new king was called the interregnum. during which time the Interrex nominated a candidate to replace the king. After the senate gave its initial approval to the nominee, he was then formally elected by the people, and then received the senate's final approval. At least one king, Servius Tullius, was elected by the senate alone, and not by the people.

The senate's most significant task, outside regal elections, was to function as the king's council, and while the king could ignore any advice it offered, its growing prestige helped make the advice that it offered increasingly difficult to ignore. Only the king could make new laws, although he often involved both the senate and the curiate assembly (the popular assembly) in the process.

 

 



Senate of the Roman Republic

Senate of the Roman Republic (W)

When the Republic began, the Senate functioned as an advisory council. It consisted of 300-500 senators, who were initially patrician and served for life. Before long, plebeians were also admitted, although they were denied the senior magistracies for a longer period.

Senators were entitled to wear a toga with a broad purple stripe, maroon shoes, and an iron (later gold) ring.

The Senate of the Roman Republic passed decrees called senatus consulta, which in form constituted "advice" from the senate to a magistrate. While these decrees did not hold legal force, they usually were obeyed in practice.

If a senatus consultum conflicted with a law (lex) that was passed by an assembly, the law overrode the senatus consultum because the senatus consultum had its authority based in precedent and not in law. A senatus consultum, however, could serve to interpret a law.

Through these decrees, the senate directed the magistrates, especially the Roman Consuls (the chief magistrates) in their prosecution of military conflicts. The senate also had an enormous degree of power over the civil government in Rome. This was especially the case with regard to its management of state finances, as only it could authorize the disbursal of public funds from the treasury. As the Roman Republic grew, the senate also supervised the administration of the provinces, which were governed by former consuls and praetors, in that it decided which magistrate should govern which province.

Since the 3rd century BC the senate also played a pivotal role in cases of emergency. It could call for the appointment of a dictator (a right resting with each consul with or without the senate's involvement). However, after 202 BC, the office of dictator fell out of use (and was revived only two more times) and was replaced with the senatus consultum ultimum ("ultimate decree of the senate"), a senatorial decree which authorised the consuls to employ any means necessary to solve the crisis.

While senate meetings could take place either inside or outside the formal boundary of the city (the pomerium), no meeting could take place more than a mile (1 km) outside it. The senate operated while under various religious restrictions. For example, before any meeting could begin, a sacrifice to the gods was made, and a search for divine omens (the auspices) was taken. The senate was only allowed to assemble in places dedicated to the gods.

Meetings usually began at dawn, and a magistrate who wished to summon the senate had to issue a compulsory order. The senate meetings were public and directed by a presiding magistrate (usually a consul). while in session, the senate had the power to act on its own, and even against the will of the presiding magistrate if it wished. The presiding magistrate began each meeting with a speech, then referred an issue to the senators, who would discuss it in order of seniority.

Senators had several other ways in which they could influence (or frustrate) a presiding magistrate. For example, every senator was permitted to speak before a vote could be held, and since all meetings had to end by nightfall, a dedicated group or even a single senator could talk a proposal to death (a filibuster or diem consumere). When it was time to call a vote, the presiding magistrate could bring up whatever proposals he wished, and every vote was between a proposal and its negative.

With a dictator as well as a senate, the senate could veto any of the dictator’s decisions. At any point before a motion passed, the proposed motion could be vetoed, usually by a tribune. If there were no veto, and the matter were of minor importance, it could be put to either a voice vote or a show of hands. If there were no veto and no obvious majority, and the matter were of a significant nature, there was usually a physical division of the house, with senators voting by taking a place on either side of the chamber.

Senate membership was controlled by the censors. By the time of Augustus, ownership of property worth at least one million sesterces was required for membership. The ethical requirements of senators were significant. In contrast to members of the Equestrian order, senators could not engage in banking or any form of public contract. They could not own a ship that was large enough to participate in foreign commerce, they could not leave Italy without permission from the rest of the senate and they were not paid a salary. Election to magisterial office resulted in automatic senate membership.

 



Senate of the Roman Empire

Senate of the Roman Empire (W)

After the fall of the Roman Republic, the constitutional balance of power shifted from the Roman senate to the Roman Emperor. Though retaining its legal position as under the republic, in practice, however, the actual authority of the imperial senate was negligible, as the emperor held the true power in the state. As such, membership in the senate became sought after by individuals seeking prestige and social standing, rather than actual authority.

During the reigns of the first emperors, legislative, judicial, and electoral powers were all transferred from the Roman assemblies to the senate. However, since the emperor held control over the senate, the senate acted as a vehicle through which he exercised his autocratic powers.

The first emperor, Augustus, reduced the size of the senate from 900 members to 600, even though there were only about 100 to 200 active senators at one time. After this point, the size of the senate was never again drastically altered. Under the empire, as was the case during the late republic, one could become a senator by being elected quaestor (a magistrate with financial duties), but only if one were already of senatorial rank. In addition to quaestors, elected officials holding a range of senior positions were routinely granted senatorial rank by virtue of the offices that they held.

If an individual were not of senatorial rank, there were two ways for him to become a senator. Under the first method, the emperor manually granted that individual the authority to stand for election to the quaestorship, while under the second method, the emperor appointed that individual to the senate by issuing a decree. Under the empire, the power that the emperor held over the senate was absolute.

The two consuls were a part of the senate, but had more power than the senators. During senate meetings, the emperor sat between the two consuls, and usually acted as the presiding officer. Senators of the early empire could ask extraneous questions or request that a certain action be taken by the senate. Higher ranking senators spoke before those of lower rank, although the emperor could speak at any time.

Besides the emperor, consuls and praetors could also preside over the senate. Since no senator could stand for election to a magisterial office without the emperor's approval, senators usually did not vote against bills that had been presented by the emperor. If a senator disapproved of a bill, he usually showed his disapproval by not attending the senate meeting on the day that the bill were to be voted on.

While the Roman assemblies continued to meet after the founding of the empire, their powers were all transferred to the senate, and so senatorial decrees (senatus consulta) acquired the full force of law. The legislative powers of the imperial senate were principally of a financial and an administrative nature, although the senate did retain a range of powers over the provinces.

During the early Roman Empire, all judicial powers that had been held by the Roman assemblies were also transferred to the senate. For example, the senate now held jurisdiction over criminal trials. In these cases, a consul presided, the senators constituted the jury, and the verdict was handed down in the form of a decree (senatus consultum), and, while a verdict could not be appealed, the emperor could pardon a convicted individual through a veto. The emperor Tiberius transferred all electoral powers from the assemblies to the senate, and, while theoretically the senate elected new magistrates, the approval of the emperor was always needed before an election could be finalized.

Around 300 AD, the emperor Diocletian enacted a series of constitutional reforms. In one such reform, he asserted the right of the emperor to take power without the theoretical consent of the senate, thus depriving the senate of its status as the ultimate depository of supreme power. Diocletian's reforms also ended whatever illusion had remained that the senate had independent legislative, judicial, or electoral powers. The senate did, however, retain its legislative powers over public games in Rome, and over the senatorial order.

The senate also retained the power to try treason cases, and to elect some magistrates, but only with the permission of the emperor. In the final years of the western empire, the senate would sometimes try to appoint their own emperor, such as in the case of Eugenius, who was later defeated by forces loyal to Theodosius I. The senate remained the last stronghold of the traditional Roman religion in the face of the spreading Christianity, and several times attempted to facilitate the return of the Altar of Victory (first removed by Constantius II) to the senatorial curia.

 



Post-Imperial Senate in Rome

Post-Imperial Senate in Rome (W)

Senate in the West


After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, the senate continued to function under the Germanic chieftain Odoacer, and then under Ostrogothic rule. The authority of the senate rose considerably under barbarian leaders, who sought to protect the institution. This period was characterized by the rise of prominent Roman senatorial families, such as the Anicii, while the senate's leader, the princeps senatus, often served as the right hand of the barbarian leader. It is known that the senate successfully installed Laurentius as pope in 498, despite the fact that both King Theodoric and Emperor Anastasius supported the other candidate, Symmachus.

The peaceful coexistence of senatorial and barbarian rule continued until the Ostrogothic leader Theodahad found himself at war with Emperor Justinian I and took the senators as hostages. Several senators were executed in 552 as revenge for the death of the Ostrogothic king, Totila. After Rome was recaptured by the imperial (Byzantine) army, the senate was restored, but the institution (like classical Rome itself) had been mortally weakened by the long war. Many senators had been killed and many of those who had fled to the east chose to remain there, thanks to favorable legislation passed by Emperor Justinian, who, however, abolished virtually all senatorial offices in Italy. The importance of the Roman senate thus declined rapidly.

In 578 and again in 580, the senate sent envoys to Constantinople. They delivered 3000 pounds (=1,360 kilograms) of gold as a gift to the new emperor, Tiberius II Constantinus, along with a plea for help against the Lombards, who had invaded Italy ten years earlier. Pope Gregory I, in a sermon from 593, lamented the almost complete disappearance of the senatorial order and the decline of the prestigious institution.

It is not clearly known when the Roman senate disappeared in the West, but it is known from the Gregorian register that the senate acclaimed new statues of Emperor Phocas and Empress Leontia in 603, and that was also the last time the senate was mentioned. In 630, the house of the Senate, Curia Julia, was transformed into a church by Pope Honorius I, probably with the permission of the Emperor Heraclius.

In later medieval times, the title “senator” was still in occasional use, but it had become a meaningless adjunct title of nobility and no longer implied membership in an organized governing body.

 

Senate in the East


The senate continued to exist in Constantinople however, although it evolved into an institution that differed in some fundamental forms from its predecessor. Designated in Greek as synkletos, or assembly, the Senate of Constantinople was made up of all current or former holders of senior ranks and official positions, plus their descendants. At its height during the 6th and 7th centuries, the Senate represented the collective wealth and power of the Empire, on occasion nominating and dominating individual emperors.

In the second half of the 10th century a new office, proëdrus (Greek: πρόεδρος), was created as head of the senate by Emperor Nicephorus Phocas. Up to the mid-11th century, only eunuchs could become proëdrus, but later this restriction was lifted and several proëdri could be appointed, of which the senior proëdrus, or protoproëdrus (Greek: πρωτοπρόεδρος), served as the head of the senate. There were two types of meetings practised: silentium, in which only magistrates currently in office participated and conventus, in which all syncletics (Greek: συγκλητικοί, senators) could participate. The Senate in Constantinople existed until at least the beginning of the 13th century, its last known act being the election of Nicolas Canabus as emperor in 1204 during the Fourth Crusade.

 



   

The Senate (B)

The Senate (B)

The Senate may have existed under the monarchy and served as an advisory council for the king. Its name suggests that it was originally composed of elderly men (senes), whose age and knowledge of traditions must have been highly valued in a preliterate society. During the republic, the Senate was composed of members from the leading families. Its size during the early republic is unknown. Ancient sources indicate that it numbered about 300 during the middle republic. Its members were collectively termed patres et conscripti (“the fathers and the enrolled”), suggesting that the Senate was initially composed of two different groups. Since the term “patrician” was derived from patres and seems to have originally meant “a member of the patres,” the dichotomy probably somehow involved the distinction between patricians and plebeians.

During the republic the Senate advised both magistrates and the Roman people. Although in theory the people were sovereign (see below) and the Senate only offered advice, in actual practice the Senate wielded enormous power because of the collective prestige of its members. It was by far the most important deliberative body in the Roman state, summoned into session by a magistrate who submitted matters to it for discussion and debate. Whatever a majority voted in favour of was termed “the Senate’s advice” (senatus consultum). These advisory decrees were directed to a magistrate or the Roman people. In most instances, they were either implemented by a magistrate or submitted by him to the people for enactment into law.

 



Senate (ROMAN HISTORY) (B)

Senate (ROMAN HISTORY) (B)

Senate, in ancient Rome, the governing and advisory council that proved to be the most permanent element in the Roman constitution.

Under the early monarchy the Senate developed as an advisory council; in 509 BC it contained 300 members, and a distinction existed within it between the heads of the greater and of the lesser families. Throughout the monarchical period the Senate consisted entirely of patricians, and its powers at this time were indefinite.

[Republic]

With the abolition of the monarchy in Rome in 509 BC, the Senate became the advisory council of the consuls (the two highest magistrates), meeting only at their pleasure and owing its appointment to them; it thus remained a power secondary to the magistrates. However, the consuls held office only for one year, whereas the Senate was a permanent body; in experience and prestige, its individual members were often superior to the consuls of the year. A consul would seldom venture to disregard the advice of the Senate, especially because he himself, in accordance with steadily growing custom, would become a senator at the end of his year of office. (It was probably in their capacity of former magistrates that plebeians first entered the Senate.) But in the early Republic the Senate remained an advising body and assumed no definite executive powers.

In the last two centuries of the Roman Republic, a great change took place. The Senate became a self-perpetuating, automatically constituted body, independent of the annual magistrates, and a recognized factor in the Roman constitution, with extensive powers. About 312 BC the selection of senators was transferred from the consuls to the censors, who normally chose former magistrates. In 81 BC Sulla secured an automatic composition for the Senate by increasing the number of quaestors to 20 and enacting that all former quaestors should pass at once into the Senate.

The Senate’s powers had by this time extended far beyond its ancient prerogatives. The Senate had acquired more effective control through the observance of certain unwritten rules regulating the relation between Senate and magistrates, to whom it formally gave advice. It became the chief governing body in Rome and tendered advice on home and foreign policy, on legislation, and on financial and religious questions. It acquired the right to assign duties to the magistrates, to determine the two provinces to be entrusted to the consuls, to prolong a magistrate’s period of office, and to appoint senatorial commissions to help magistrates to organize conquered territory. Its earlier influence upon foreign policy developed into a definite claim to conduct all negotiations with a foreign power, although the formal declaration of war and ratification of treaties were referred to the people. It often acted as arbitrator in disputes among Italian communities, provincials, or client-states.

Although individual senators after 218 BC were debarred from trading, the control of finance was in the Senate’s hands. Three circumstances had combined to bring this about. The censors, who were only occasional officials, were entrusted with the leasing of the public revenues; the Senate could order them to redraft contracts. Second, the details of public expenditure were entrusted to the quaestors, young and inexperienced magistrates whom the Senate could guide. Third, the general control exercised by the Senate over provincial affairs implied its direction of the income derived from the provinces. It also claimed the right of granting occupation and decreeing alienation of public lands. Every branch of state finance was therefore in its hands; it controlled revenue and expenditure and supervised the treasury.

This ever-widening influence and power of the Senate was challenged by tribunes from the time of Tiberius Gracchus onward (133 BC) and, more particularly, by the military leaders, from Marius onward, who pitted their administrative power against the authority of the Senate. Despite the short-lived attempt of Sulla to reinstate the Senate’s ascendancy, the Republic collapsed under these repeated blows against the authority of the Senate. As a result of the civil war of 49-45 BC, the number of senators (which Sulla had earlier raised to 500 or 600) was seriously depleted. Julius Caesar revised the list and increased the Senate to 900, naturally filling it with his own supporters. The composition of the Senate thus underwent a considerable change: few of the senators who had opposed Caesar survived; the new senators included many knights and municipal Italians and even a few provincials from Gaul.

Because Augustus officially “restored the Republic” (27 BC), it was essential to preserve—at least outwardly—the prestige of the Senate. Although the emperor did not share his basic power with the Senate, he did allow it to cooperate with him in most of the spheres of government. It was left at the head of the ordinary administration of Rome and Italy, together with those provinces that did not require any military force or present special administrative difficulties. It continued to administer the treasury but was soon overshadowed by the emperor, who allowed it to supervise the copper coinage alone. The Senate received judicial functions and for the first time became a court of law, competent to try cases of extortion in the senatorial provinces. The legislative powers of the popular elective assemblies became very gradually extinct, and decrees of the Senate came to take the place of legislative bills adopted by the assemblies in ordinary matters although they did not at first acquire full recognition as laws. On the other hand, the Senate lost all its control of foreign policy; and, though it was occasionally consulted by the emperor, it was entirely subordinate to him in this department. The emperor could convene and preside over the Senate, his report and other communications taking precedence; his name also headed the list of senators. He could also select new senators virtually at will. They numbered ordinarily 300.

The number of Italian and provincial senators increased (especially under Vespasian), but the Italians were not outnumbered by the provincials until after the reign of Septimius Severus (AD 193-211). At first the provincials came predominantly from Spain and Narbonese Gaul, but later there were more Asians and Africans. Under Gallienus, senators lost the right to command legions and much of their part in provincial administration. Under Constantine they were virtually amalgamated with the knights, who had benefited from these changes. The number of the new senators rose in the 4th century to about 2,000. That the Senate was still regarded as a representative and necessary part of the constitution is shown by Constantine’s creation of a duplicate Senate in Constantinople.

The most important senators were the great landowners throughout the empire, whose position became almost feudal. A great number of them failed to leave their estates to attend meetings, and the Senate often acted—as it had in the early days of the Republic—merely as a town council for Rome, under the chairmanship of the prefect of the city. Many of the great senatorial landowners were men of culture who represented Roman civilization amid increasing barbarism and tried to uphold paganism in Italy. In the 5th century, however, some of them helped the barbarian leaders against the imperial authority. In the 6th century the Roman Senate disappears from the historical record; it is last mentioned in AD 580.

 

 

 








  Roman Constitution

Constitution of the Roman Republic

Constitution of the Roman Republic (W)

The constitution of the Roman Republic was a set of unwritten norms and customs, which together with various written laws, guided the procedural governance of the Roman Republic. The constitution emerged from that of the Roman kingdom, evolved over the almost five hundred years of the Republic, and was transformed into the constitution of the Roman Empire.

The Roman republican constitution can be divided into three main branches:

  • the Assemblies, composed of the people, which served as the supreme repository of political power and had the authority to elect magistrates, accept or reject laws, administer justice, and declare war or peace;
  • the Senate, which advised the magistrates and the state, acting primarily not on legal authority per se, but rather with its influence, and
  • the magistrates, elected by the people to govern the Republic in their name, holding religious, military, and judicial powers, along with the right to preside over and call upon the assemblies.

 

A complex set of checks and balances developed between these three branches. For example, the assemblies theoretically held all power, but were called and governed by the magistrates, who, controlling discussion, exercised dominating influence over them. Similarly, to check the power of the magistrates, each magistrate could veto one of their colleagues and the plebeians elected tribunes who could intercede and veto the actions of a magistrate.

The Republic's constitution slowly evolved over time. Starting from a period of patrician domination, the Conflict of the Orders eventually granted plebeian citizens equal political rights, while also creating the tribunate to check patrician power and empowering the Plebeian Council, an assembly composed of the plebeians of Rome, with full legislative authority.

The late Republic saw an increase in the centralisation of power into the hands of provincial governors, the use of military power to enforce political changes (e.g. the Sullan dictatorship), and the use of violence, combined with exploitation of the suitably bribed or intimidated "sovereign" assemblies, to grant supreme authority to victorious commanders. The increasing legitimisation of violence and centralisation of authority into fewer and fewer men would, with the collapse of trust in the Republic's institutions, put it on a path to civil war and its transformation by Augustus into an autocratic empire cloaked with nothing more than the veneer of Republican legitimacy.

 



 

📌 The Constitution of the Roman Republic


(W)

 




   

Polybius

Polybius (208-125 BC) (W)

Polybius (Πολύβιος, Polýbios; c. 208 – c. 125 BC) was a Greek historian of the Hellenistic period noted for his work The Histories, which covered the period of 264–146 BC in detail. The work describes the rise of the Roman Republic to the status of dominance in the ancient Mediterranean world and includes his eyewitness account of the Sack of Carthage and Corinth in 146 BC, and the Roman annexation of mainland Greece after the Achaean War.

Polybius is important for his analysis of the mixed constitution or the separation of powers in government, which was influential on Montesquieu's The Spirit of the Laws and the framers of the United States Constitution.

 



 

📹 📹 📹 Roman Constitution (VIDEOS)

📹 Roman Constitution

📹 Roman Republic — Political Structure (VİDEO)

📹 Roman Republic — Political Structure (LINK)

 



📹 The Roman Senate during the Monarchy (VİDEO)

📹 The Roman Senate during the Monarchy (LINK)

 



📹 The Roman Senate during the Republic (VİDEO)

📹 The Roman Senate during the Republic (LINK)

 



📹 Roman Elections (VİDEO)

📹 Roman Elections (LINK)

 



📹 The Cursus Honorum (VİDEO)

📹 The Cursus Honorum (LINK)

 



📹 Quaestors (VİDEO)

📹 Quaestors (LINK)

 



📹 Aediles (VİDEO)

📹 Aediles (LINK)

 



📹 Praetors (VİDEO)

📹 Praetors (LINK)

 



📹 Consuls (VİDEO)

📹 Consuls (LINK)

 



📹 Roman Government and Senate (VİDEO)

📹 Roman Government and Senate (LINK)

 



 








  Legislative Assemblies

🎨 Justice and Peace, Corrado Giaquinto.

Justice and Peace, Corrado Giaquinto.

 




Legislative assemblies of the Roman Republic

Legislative assemblies of the Roman Republic (W)

The legislative assemblies of the Roman Republic were political institutions in the ancient Roman Republic. According to the contemporary historian Polybius, it was the people (and thus the assemblies) who had the final say regarding the election of magistrates, the enactment of Roman laws, the carrying out of capital punishment, the declaration of war and peace, and the creation (or dissolution) of alliances. Under the Constitution of the Roman Republic, the people (and thus the assemblies) held the ultimate source of sovereignty.

Since the Romans used a form of direct democracy, citizens, and not elected representatives, voted before each assembly. As such, the citizen-electors had no power, other than to cast a vote. Each assembly was presided over by a single Roman Magistrate, and as such, it was the presiding magistrate who made all decisions on matters of procedure and legality. Ultimately, the presiding magistrate's power over the assembly was nearly absolute. The only check on that power came in the form of vetoes handed down by other magistrates.

In the Roman system of direct democracy, two primary types of gatherings were used to vote on legislative, electoral, and judicial matters. The first was the Assembly (comitia), which was a gathering that was deemed to represent the entire Roman people, even if it did not contain all of the Roman citizens or, like the comitia curiata, excluded a particular class of Roman citizens (the plebs). The second was the Council (concilium), which was a gathering of citizens of a specific class. In contrast, the Convention was an unofficial forum for communication. Conventions were simply forums where Romans met for specific unofficial purposes, such as, for example, to hear a political speech. Voters always assembled first into Conventions to hear debates and conduct other business before voting, and then into Assemblies or Councils to actually vote.


Assembly procedure

Assembly procedure (W)

There were no set dates to hold assemblies, but notice had to be given beforehand if the assembly was to be considered formal. Elections had to be announced 17 days before the election took place. Likewise, 17 days had to pass between the proposal of legislation and its enactment by an assembly.

In addition to the presiding magistrate, several additional magistrates were often present to act as assistants. There were also religious officials known as augurs either in attendance or on-call, who would be available to help interpret any signs from the gods (omens) On several known occasions, presiding magistrates used the claim of unfavorable omens as an excuse to suspend a session that was not going the way they wanted. Any decision made by a presiding magistrate could be vetoed by a magistrate known as a Plebeian Tribune. In addition, decisions made by presiding magistrates could also be vetoed by higher-ranking magistrates.

On the day of the vote, the electors first assembled into their conventions for debate and campaigning. In the Conventions, the electors were not sorted into their respective units (curia, centuries or tribes). Speeches from private citizens were only heard if the issue to be voted upon was a legislative or judicial matter. If the purpose of the ultimate vote was for an election, no speeches from private citizens were heard, and instead, the candidates for office used the Convention to campaign. During the Convention, the bill to be voted upon was read to the assembly by an officer known as a "Herald". Then, if the assembly was composed of Tribes, the order of the vote had to be determined. A Plebeian Tribune could use his veto against pending legislation until the point when the order of the vote was determined.

The electors were then told to break up the Convention and assemble into the formal Assembly or Council. The electors voted by placing a pebble or written ballot into an appropriate jar. The baskets that held the votes were watched by specific officers, who then counted the ballots, and reported the results to the presiding magistrate. The majority of votes in any Curia, Tribe, or Century decided how that Curia, Tribe, or Century voted. Each Curia, Tribe, or Century received one vote, regardless of how many electors each Tribe or Century held. Once a majority of Curiae, Tribes, or Centuries voted in the same way on a given measure, the voting ended, and the matter was decided.

If a law was passed in violation of proper procedures (such as failing to wait 17 days before voting on a law), the Senate could declare the law nonbinding.

 



Assembly of the Curiae

Assembly of the Curiae (W)

The Curiate Assembly (comitia curiata) was the principal assembly during the first two decades of the Roman Republic. The Curiate Assembly was organized as an Assembly, and not as a Council even though only patricians were members. During these first decades, the People of Rome were organized into thirty units called Curiae. The Curiae were ethnic in nature, and thus were organized on the basis of the early Roman family, or, more specifically, on the basis of the thirty original Patrician (aristocratic) clans. The Curiae assembled into the Curiate Assembly, for legislative, electoral, and judicial purposes. The Curiate Assembly passed laws, elected Consuls (the only elected magistrates at the time), and tried judicial cases. Consuls always presided over the assembly.

Shortly after the founding of the republic, most of the powers of the Curiate Assembly were transferred to the Centuriate Assembly and the Tribal Assembly. While it then fell into disuse, it did retain some theoretical powers, most importantly, the power to ratify elections of the top-ranking Roman Magistrates (Consuls and Praetors) by passing the statute that gave them their legal command authority, the lex curiata de imperio. In practice, however, they actually received this authority from the Centuriate Assembly (which formally elected them), and as such, this functioned as nothing more than a reminder of Rome's regal heritage. Other acts that the Curiate Assembly voted on were mostly symbolic and usually in the affirmative. At one point, possibly as early as 218 BC, the Curiate Assembly's thirty Curia were abolished, and replaced with thirty lictors, one from each of the original Patrician clans. Since the Curia had always been organized on the basis of the Roman family, the Curiate Assembly actually retained jurisdiction over clan matters even after the fall of the Roman Republic in 27 BC. Under the presidency of the Pontifex Maximus, it witnessed wills and ratified adoptions, inaugurated certain priests, and transferred citizens from Patrician class to Plebeian class (or vice versa). In 44 BC, for example, it ratified the will of Julius Caesar, and with it Caesar’s adoption of his nephew Gaius Octavian (the future Roman emperor Augustus) as his son and heir. However, this might not have been the comitia curiata but instead the comitia calata.

 



Assembly of the Centuries

Assembly of the Centuries (W)

The Centuriate Assembly (comitia centuriata or “Army Assembly”) of the Roman Republic was originally the democratic assembly of the Roman soldiers. The Centuriate Assembly organized the Roman citizens into classes, which were defined by a means test and were economic in nature. The Roman army was divided into units called "Centuries", and these gathered into the Centuriate Assembly for legislative, electoral, and judicial purposes. However, since the number of centuries in each class was fixed, centuries could contain far more than 100 men. Only this assembly could declare war or elect the highest-ranking Roman Magistrates: Consuls, Praetors and Censors. The Centuriate Assembly could also pass a statute that granted constitutional command authority to Consuls and Praetors, and Censorial powers to Censors. In addition, the Centuriate Assembly served as the highest court of appeal in certain judicial cases, and ratified the results of the Census. While the voters in this assembly wore white undecorated togas and were unarmed, while taking part in the Assembly they were classified as soldiers, and as such they could not meet inside of the physical boundary of the city of Rome. The president of the Centuriate Assembly was usually a Consul (although sometimes a Praetor). Only Consuls (the highest-ranking of all Roman Magistrates) could preside over the Centuriate Assembly during elections because the higher-ranking Consuls were always elected together with the lower-ranking Praetors. Once every five years, after the new Consuls for the year took office, they presided over the Centuriate Assembly as it elected the two Censors.

The Centuriate Assembly was supposedly founded by the legendary Roman King Servius Tullius, less than a century before the founding of the Roman Republic in 509 BC. As such, the original design of the Centuriate Assembly was known as the“Servian organization.” Under this organization, the assembly was supposedly designed to mirror the Roman army during the time of the Roman Kingdom. Soldiers in the Roman army were classified on the basis of the amount of property that they owned, and as such, soldiers with more property had more influence than soldiers with less property. The 193 Centuries in the assembly under the Servian Organization were each divided into one of three different grades: the officer class, the enlisted class, and a class of unarmed adjuncts. The officer class was grouped into eighteen Centuries. The enlisted class was grouped into five separate property classes, for a total of 170 Centuries. The unarmed soldiers were divided into the final five Centuries. Of five enlisted classes, the wealthiest controlled 80 of the votes. During a vote, all of the Centuries of one class had to vote before the Centuries of the next lower class could vote. The first candidate to reach a majority of 97 votes was victorious. When a measure or candidate received 97 votes, a majority of the centuries, the voting ended, and as such, many lower ranking Centuries rarely if ever had a chance to actually vote. Combined the 18 equites and the 80 centuries of the first property class had one more century than needed, and a unanimous vote from the elite would thus elect a candidate.

In 241 BC, the assembly was reorganized, though the exact details are uncertain. Some sources have a new total of 373 Centuries, but Cicero still writes of 193 centuries in his era, and most scholars still use that number It known that the first property class was reduced form 80 to 70 centuries, and the order of voting was changed so that the first class would go first, and be followed by the equites.

The lowest ranking Century in the Centuriate Assembly was the fifth Century (called the proletarii) of the unarmed adjunct class. This Century was the only Century composed of soldiers who had no property, and since it was always the last Century to vote, it never had any real influence on elections. In 107 BC, in response to high unemployment and a severe manpower shortage in the army, the general and Consul Gaius Marius reformed the organization of the army, and allowed individuals with no property to enlist. As a consequence of these reforms, this fifth unarmed Century came to encompass almost the entire Roman army. This mass disenfranchisement of most of the soldiers in the army played an important role in the chaos that led to the fall of the Roman Republic in 27 BC.

During his dictatorship from 82 BC until 80 BC, Lucius Cornelius Sulla restored the old Servian Organization to this assembly. Sulla died in 78 BC, and in 70 BC, the Consuls Pompey Magnus and Marcus Licinius Crassus repealed Sulla's constitutional reforms, including his restoration of the Servian Organization to this assembly. Thus, they restored the newer organization that had originated in 241 BC. The organization of the Centuriate Assembly was not changed again until its powers were all transferred to the Roman Senate by the first Roman Emperor, Augustus, after the fall of the Roman Republic in 27 BC.

 



Assembly of the Tribes

Assembly of the Tribes (W)

The Tribal Assembly (comitia populi tributa) of the Roman Republic was the democratic assembly of Roman citizens. The Tribal Assembly was organized as an Assembly, and not as a Council. During the years of the Roman Republic, citizens were organized on the basis of thirty-five Tribes which included patricians and plebeians. The Tribes gathered into the Tribal Assembly for legislative, electoral, and judicial purposes. The president of the Tribal Assembly was usually either a Consul (the highest ranking Roman Magistrate) or a Praetor (the second-highest ranking Roman Magistrate). The Tribal Assembly elected three different magistrates: Quaestors, Curule Aediles, and Military Tribunes. The Tribal Assembly also had the power to try judicial cases.

The thirty-five Tribes were not ethnic or kinship groups, but rather a generic division into which Roman citizens were distributed. When the Tribes were created the divisions were geographical, similar to modern Parliamentary constituencies. However, since one joined the same Tribe that one's father belonged to, the geographical distinctions were eventually lost. The order that the 35 Tribes voted in was selected randomly by lot. The order was not chosen at once, and after each Tribe had voted, a lot was used to determine which Tribe should vote next. The first Tribe selected was usually the most important Tribe, because it often decided the matter. It was believed that the order of the lot was chosen by the Gods, and thus, that the position held by the early voting Tribes was the position of the Gods. Once a majority of Tribes had voted the same way, voting ended.

 



Plebeian Council

Plebeian Council (W)

The Plebeian Council (concilium plebis) was the principal popular gathering of the Roman Republic. As the name suggests, the Plebeian Council was organized as a Council, and not as an Assembly. It functioned as a gathering through which the Plebeians (commoners) could pass laws, elect magistrates, and try judicial cases. This council had no political power until the offices of Plebeian Tribune and Plebeian Aedile were created in 494 BC, due to the Plebeian Secession that year.

According to legend, the Roman King Servius Tullius enacted a series of constitutional reforms in the 6th century BC. One of these reforms resulted in the creation of a new organizational unit with which to divide citizens. This unit, the Tribe, was based on geography rather than family, and was created to assist in future reorganizations of the army. In 471 BC, law was passed which allowed the Plebeians to begin organizing by Tribe. Before this point, they had organized on the basis of the Curia. The only difference between the Plebeian Council after 471 BC and the ordinary Tribal Assembly (which also organized on the basis of the Tribes) was that the Tribes of the Plebeian Council only included Plebeians, whereas the Tribes of the Tribal Assembly included both Plebeians and Patricians.

The Plebeian Council elected two 'Plebeian Magistrates', the Plebeian Tribunes and the Plebeian Aediles. Usually the Plebeian Tribune presided over the assembly, although the Plebeian Aedile sometimes did as well. Originally, statutes passed by the Plebeian Council (“Pllebiscites”) only applied to Plebeians. However, in 449 BC, a statute of an Assembly was passed which gave Plebiscites the full force of law over all Romans (Plebeians and Patricians). It was not until 287 BC, however, that the last mechanism which allowed the Roman Senate to veto acts of the Plebeian Council was revoked. After this point, almost all domestic legislation came out of the Plebeian Council.

 



 



 

Plebeian Council

Plebeian Council (W)

The Concilium Plebis (English: Plebeian Council, Plebeian Assembly, or People's Assembly) was the principal assembly of the ancient Roman Republic. It functioned as a legislative assembly, through which the plebeians (commoners) could pass laws, elect magistrates, and try judicial cases. The Plebeian Council was originally organized on the basis of the Curia. Thus, it was originally a "Plebeian Curiate Assembly". The Plebeian Council usually met in the well of the comitium and could only be convoked by the Tribune of the Plebs. The assembly elected the Tribunes of the Plebs and the plebeian aediles, and only the plebeians were allowed to vote.

 



Curiate Assembly

Curiate Assembly (W)

The Curiate Assembly (comitia curiata) was the principal assembly during the first two decades of the Roman Republic. During these first decades, the people of Rome were organized into thirty units called "Curiae". The Curiae were ethnic in nature, and thus were organized on the basis of the early Roman family, or, more specifically, on the basis of the thirty original patrician (aristocratic) clans. The Curiae formed an assembly for legislative, electoral, and judicial purposes. The Curiate Assembly passed laws, elected Consuls (the only elected magistrates at the time), and tried judicial cases. Consuls always presided over the assembly. While plebeians (commoners) could participate in this assembly, only the patricians (the Roman aristocrats) could vote.

Since the Romans used a form of direct democracy, citizens, and not elected representatives, voted before each assembly. As such, the citizen-electors had no power, other than the power to cast a vote. Each assembly was presided over by a single Roman Magistrate, and as such, it was the presiding magistrate who made all decisions on matters of procedure and legality. Ultimately, the presiding magistrate's power over the assembly was nearly absolute. The only check on that power came in the form of vetoes handed down by other magistrates, and decisions made by presiding magistrates could also be vetoed by higher-ranking magistrates. In addition, after 493 BC, any decision made by a presiding magistrate, including one concerning the Curiate Assembly, could be vetoed by a magistrate known as a plebeian tribune, or tribune of the plebs.

 



Comitia Centuriata

Comitia Centuriata (B)

Comitia Centuriata, Ancient Roman military assembly, instituted c. 450 BC. It decided on war and peace, passed laws, elected consuls,praetors, and censors, and considered appeals of capital convictions. Unlike the older patrician Comitia Curiata, it included plebeians as well as patricians, assigned to classes and centuriae (centuries, or groups of 100) by wealth and the equipment they could provide for military duty. Voting started with the wealthier centuries, whose votes outweighed those of the poorer.

 



Tribal Assembly

Tribal Assembly (W)

The Tribal Assembly (comitia populi tributa) was an assembly consisting of all Roman citizens convened by tribes (tribus).

In the Roman Republic, citizens did not elect legislative representatives (such as congressmen or MPs). Instead, they voted themselves on legislative matters in the popular assemblies (the comitia centuriata, the tribal assembly and the plebeian council). Bills were proposed by magistrates and the citizens only exercised their right to vote.

In the Tribal Assembly, citizens were organized on the basis of 35 tribes: four urban tribes of the citizens in the city of Rome, and 31 rural tribes of citizens outside the city. Each tribe voted separately and one after the other. In each tribe, decisions were made by majority vote and its decision counted as one vote regardless of how many electors each tribe held. Once a majority of tribes voted in the same way on a given measure, the voting ended and the matter was decided.

The Tribal Assembly was chaired by a magistrate, usually a consul or a praetor. The presiding magistrate made all decisions on matters of procedure and legality. His power over the assembly could be nearly absolute. One check on his power came in the form of vetoes by other magistrates. Also, any decision made by a presiding magistrate could be vetoed by the plebeian tribunes.

The Tribal Assembly elected the quaestors, and the curule aediles. It conducted trials for non-capital punishment cases. However, the Roman Dictator Lucius Cornelius Sulla reassigned this to special jury courts (quaestiones perpetuae) in 82 BC. There are disagreements among modern historians regarding the number and nature of the tribal assembly (see below).

 



Roman tribe (Not an ethnic group, but only the voting unit)

Roman tribe (W)

A tribus, or tribe, was a division of the Roman people, constituting the voting units of a legislative assembly of the Roman Republic. The word is probably derived from tribuere, to divide or distribute; the traditional derivation from tres, three, is doubtful.

According to tradition, the first three tribes were established by Romulus; each was divided into ten curiae, or wards, which were the voting units of the comitia curiata. Although the curiae continued throughout Roman history, the three original tribes that they constituted gradually vanished from history.

Perhaps influenced by the original division of the people into tribes, as well as the number of thirty wards, Servius Tullius established thirty new tribes, which later constituted the comitia tributa. This number was reduced to twenty at the beginning of the Roman Republic; but as the Roman population and its territory grew, fifteen additional tribes were enrolled, the last in 241 BC.

All Roman citizens were enrolled in one of these tribes, through which they were entitled to vote on the election of certain magistrates, religious officials, judicial decisions in certain suits affecting the plebs, and pass resolutions on various proposals made by the tribunes of the plebs and the higher magistrates. Although the comitia tributa lost most of its legislative functions under the Empire, enrollment in a tribe remained an important part of Roman citizenship until at least the third century AD.

 



Tribune of the plebs

Tribune of the plebs (W)

Tribunus plebis, rendered in English as tribune of the plebs, tribune of the people or plebeian tribune, was the first office of the Roman state that was open to the plebeians, and was throughout the history of the Republic, the most important check on the power of the Roman Senate and magistrates. These tribunes had the power to convene and preside over the Concilium Plebis (people's assembly); to summon the senate; to propose legislation; and to intervene on behalf of plebeians in legal matters; but the most significant power was to veto the actions of the consuls and other magistrates, thus protecting the interests of the plebeians as a class. The tribunes of the plebs were sacrosanct, meaning that any assault on their person was prohibited by law. In imperial times, the powers of the tribunate were granted to the emperor as a matter of course, and the office itself lost its independence and most of its functions. During the day the tribunes used to sit on the tribune benches on the Forum Romanum.

Establishment of the tribunate

Fifteen years after the expulsion of the kings and establishment of the Roman Republic, the plebeians were burdened by the weight of crushing debt. A series of clashes between the people and the ruling patricians in 495 and 494 BC brought the plebeians to the brink of revolt, and there was talk of assassinating the consuls. Instead, on the advice of Lucius Sicinius Vellutus, the plebeians seceded en masse to the Mons Sacer(the Sacred Mount), a hill outside of Rome. The senate dispatched Agrippa Menenius Lanatus, a former consul who was well liked by the plebeians, as an envoy. Menenius was well received, and told the fable of the belly and the limbs, likening the people to the limbs who chose not to support the belly, and thus starved themselves; just as the belly and the limbs, the city, he explained, could not survive without both the patricians and plebeians working in concert.

The plebeians agreed to negotiate for their return to the city; and their condition was that special tribunes should be appointed to represent the plebeians, and to protect them from the power of the consuls. No member of the senatorial class would be eligible for this office (in practice, this meant that only plebeians were eligible for the tribunate), and the tribunes should be sacrosanct; any person who laid hands on one of the tribunes would be outlawed, and the whole body of the plebeians entitled to kill such person without fear of penalty. The senate agreeing to these terms, the people returned to the city.

The first tribuni plebis were Lucius Albinius Paterculus and Gaius Licinius, appointed for the year 493 BC. Soon afterward, the tribunes themselves appointed Sicinius and two others as their colleagues.

The ancient sources indicate the tribunes may have originally been two or five in number. If the former, the college of tribunes was expanded to five in 470 BC. Either way, the college was increased to ten in 457 BC, and remained at this number throughout Roman history. They were assisted by two aediles plebis, or plebeian aediles. Only plebeians were eligible for these offices, although there were at least two exceptions.

 



The plebeian tribunate (B)

The plebeian tribunate (B)

According to the annalistic tradition, one of the most important events in the struggle of the orders was the creation of the plebeian tribunate. After being worn down by military service, bad economic conditions, and the rigours of early Rome’s debt law, the plebeians in 494 BC seceded in a body from the city to the Sacred Mount, located three miles from Rome. There they pitched camp and elected their own officials for their future protection. Because the state was threatened with an enemy attack, the Senate was forced to allow the plebeians to have their own officials, the tribunes of the plebs.

Initially there were only 2 tribunes of the plebs, but their number increased to 5 in 471 BC and to 10 in 457 BC. They had no insignia of office, like the consuls, but they were regarded as sacrosanct. Whoever physically harmed them could be killed with impunity. They had the right to intercede on a citizen’s behalf against the action of a consul, but their powers were valid only within one mile from the pomerium. They convoked the tribal assembly and submitted bills to it for legislation. Tribunes prosecuted other magistrates before the assembled people for misconduct in office. They could also veto the action of another tribune (veto meaning “I forbid”). Two plebeian aediles served as their assistants in managing the affairs of the city. Although they were thought of as the champions of the people, persons elected to this office came from aristocratic families and generally favoured the status quo. Nevertheless, the office could be and sometimes was used by young aspiring aristocrats to make a name for themselves by taking up populist causes in opposition to the nobility.

Modern scholars disagree about the authenticity of the annalistic account concerning the plebs’ first secession and the creation of the plebeian tribunate. The tradition presented this as the first of three secessions, the other two allegedly occurring in 449 and 287 BC. The second secession is clearly fictitious. Many scholars regard the first one as a later annalistic invention as well, accepting only the last one as historical. Although the first secession is explained in terms resembling the conditions of the later Gracchan agrarian crisis (see below The reform movement of the Gracchi [133-121 BC]), given the harshness of early Roman debt laws and food shortages recorded by the sources for 492 and 488 BC (information likely to be preserved in contemporary religious records), social and economic unrest could have contributed to the creation of the office. However, the urban-civilian character of the plebeian tribunate complements the extra-urban military nature of the consulship so nicely that the two offices may have originally been designed to function cooperatively to satisfy the needs of the state rather than to be antagonistic to one another.

 



Ius ya da Jus

Ius ya da Jus (W)


A personification of justice by Bernard d'Agesci. La justice holds scales in one hand and in the other hand a book with "Dieu, la Loi, et le Roi" (God, the Law and the King) on one page and the Golden rule on the other page.


Ius
or Jus (Latin, plural iura) in ancient Rome was a right to which a citizen (civis) was entitled by virtue of his citizenship (civitas). The iura were specified by laws, so ius sometimes meant law. As one went to the law courts to sue for one's rights, ius also meant justice and the place where justice was sought.

On the whole, the Romans valued their rights as the greatest good of Roman citizenship (civitas romana), as opposed to citizenship in other city-states under the jurisdiction of Rome but without Roman rights. Outsiders (peregrini) and freedmen (libertini) perforce used Roman lawyers to represent them in actions undertaken under the jurisdiction of Roman law. Representation was one of the civic obligations (munera) owed to the state by citizens. These munera (on which account the citizens were municipes) included military service as well as paying taxes, but specialized obligations might also be associated with functions of elected offices or assigned by the government, such as paying the cost of road or aqueduct maintenance. Some of these functions were highly lucrative, such as tax collecting, since the collector collected much more than he owed the government, but for the most part functionaries were appointed for their wealth and were expected to assume the costs as their munus. If they did not, they were tried and sometimes executed. Violation of the iura of other citizens, whether in office or out, was a serious matter, for which the punishment might be death.

Aequum et bonum

Ius was defined by the jurists Publius Juventius Celsus and Julius Paulus Prudentissimus as the aequum et bonum, "the just and the fair", or justice. Jurisprudence was the art of bringing it about through application of the laws; thus ius was law in the abstract, as in the English usage of the term "the law". Iura were "the whole of laws" (iura populi Romani), not a list of all the laws, but the very principle of legality, which might be applied through this law or by the magistrates and lawyers of Rome through disputation in the law courts. Ius might be something less than the whole body of law when special fields were designated by an adjective, such as ius publicum, "public law," as opposed to private law.

The actual laws (leges), or written statutes, were only the specific tools through which ius was applied. Ius was the law in its broadest sense or its ideal state, above and unaffected by the contingent decrees that the state happened to enact — hence the distinction between the English terms justice and legislation.


Jura et potestates

Ius as the law was generally the domain of Roman aristocrats, from whose ranks the magistrates were chosen and who often defended clients in court. On a more practical basis, the populace of Rome daily encountered the primary meaning of ius. They understood that they had rights. Furthermore, these rights could be named and enumerated in formulae beginning with the word ius followed by a descriptive phrase, most often in the genitive case: "the right of ...."

...

[The] power, or potestas, was a license governing behavior between persons granted by the constitution. It determined what one citizen or group of citizens could or could not do regarding another; i.e., potestas is to be translated as authority, which the possession of iura gave to individuals. One might act socially sui iuris, on one's own authority, asserting one's own right, or on behalf of another, alieni iuris, in response to a demand to serve his right by being under his authority.

This was the principle binding soldiers in the army: the consul, or a commander of some other rank, had a right to demand public service of citizens in the army, who were then under his authority. The magistrates thus had the right and power to draft men into the army at any time, but this demand was never a private affair; the males were lawfully assembled and selections were made by the commanders of the units. Typically, the right to raise a legion from a given populace for a specified purpose under the Roman Republic had to be granted by a senatus consultum, a decree of the Senate.

Similarly, under the Roman Empire the imperator ("commander") was from a legal point of view the chief magistrate whose major ius was the ordering of all public affairs, for which he could demand assistance from anyone at any time. The cynical demands of the bad emperors and the beneficial ones of the good emperors are described at great length by the historians of the empire, such as Tacitus.

 



Conflict of the Orders

Conflict of the Orders (İÖ 500-287) (W)

The Conflict of the Orders, also referred to as the Struggle of the Orders, was a political struggle between the Plebeians (commoners) and Patricians (aristocrats) of the ancient Roman Republic lasting from 500 BC to 287 BC, in which the Plebeians sought political equality with the Patricians. It played a major role in the development of the Constitution of the Roman Republic. Shortly after the founding of the Republic, this conflict led to a secession from Rome by Plebeians to the Sacred Mount at a time of war. The result of this first secession was the creation of the office of Plebeian Tribune, and with it the first acquisition of real power by the Plebeians.

At first only Patricians were allowed to stand for election to political office, but over time these laws were revoked, and eventually all offices were opened to the Plebeians. Since most individuals who were elected to political office were given membership in the Roman Senate, this development helped to transform the senate from a body of Patricians into a body of Plebeian and Patrician aristocrats. This development occurred at the same time that the Plebeian legislative assembly, the Plebeian Council, was acquiring additional power. At first, its acts (“plebiscites”) applied only to Plebeians, although after 339 BC, with the institution of laws by the first Plebeian dictator Q. Publilius Philo, these acts began to apply to both Plebeians and Patricians, with a senatorial veto of all measures approved by the council.

It was not until 287 BC that the Patrician senators lost their last check over the Plebeian Council. However, the Patricio-Plebeian aristocracy in the senate still retained other means by which to control the Plebeian Council, in particular the closeness between the Plebeian Tribunes and the senators. While this conflict would end in 287 BC with the Plebeians having acquired political equality with the Patricians, the plight of the average Plebeian had not changed. A small number of aristocratic Plebeian families had emerged, and most Plebeian politicians came from one of these families.

 



Elections in the Roman Republic

Elections in the Roman Republic (W)

Elections in the Roman Republic were an essential part to its governance, with participation only being afforded to Roman citizens. Upper class interests, centered in the urban political environment of cities, often trumped the concerns of the diverse and disunified lower class; while at times, those already in power would pre-select candidates for office, further reducing the value of voters’ input. The candidates themselves at first remained distant from voters and refrained from public presentations (in fact, formal speech-making was at one point forbidden in an effort to focus on the policies rather than the charisma of the candidate), but they later more than made up for time lost with habitual bribery, coercion, and empty promises. As the practice of electoral campaigning grew in use and extent, the pool of candidates was no longer limited to a select group with riches and high birth. Instead, many more ordinary citizens had a chance to run for office, allowing for more equal representation in key government decisions.

During the Roman Republic the citizens would elect almost all officeholders annually. Popular elections for high office were largely undermined and then brought to an end by Augustus (r. 27 BC - 14 AD), the first Roman emperor (earlier known as Octavian). However, Roman elections continued at the local, municipal level.


Elections were a central element to the history and politics of Rome for some 500 years, and the major historians such as Livy and Plutarch make frequent references to them. What does not exist is a comprehensive account on how elections worked. Historians have reconstructed details from scattered accounts from different eras, but much is still uncertain and there is scholarly debate over several elements.

Sallust gives a valuable account of Marius' first consul campaign of 107 BCE in the Jugurthine War. The most important sources are writings by Cicero. While his major works touch on elections, his daily life was immersed in late Republican politics, and his surviving letters and orations are the most valuable. Two important ones are Pro Murena and Pro Plancio, both legal speeches to defend candidates accused of bribery.

The most comprehensive surviving source is the Commentariolum Petitionis (Little Handbook on Electioneering) by Quintus Tullius Cicero. It is a how-to guide on running for consul, written by Quintus for his brother's campaign in 64 BCE. Unfortunately there are many doubts as to its authenticity, accepted by some as authentic to the period, others date it a century later to an author who would not have direct knowledge of election realities.

 








  Special Terms

Comitia

Comitia (B)

Comitia, plural Comitia, in ancient Republican Rome, a legal assembly of the people. Comitia met on an appropriate site (comitium) and day (comitialis) determined by the auspices (omens). Within each comitia, voting was by group; the majority in each group determined its vote.

The powers of Republican Roman government were divided between the Senate, the magistrates, and the people (populus). Originally the populus consisted only of the patricians, who formed a class of privileged citizens. The patricians were divided into 30 curiae, or local groups, and the legal assembly of these curiae, the Comitia Curiata, was for a time the sole legal representative of the entire Roman populus. The Comitia Curiata dated from the time of the Roman kings. By late Republican times its importance had dwindled, and its chief functions were simply to confer the imperium (supreme executive power) on magistrates and to witness wills, adoptions, and the inauguration of priests.

The Comitia Centuriata, instituted in about 450 BC as a military assembly, decided issues of war and peace, enacted legislation, elected consuls, praetors, and censors, and considered the appeals of Roman citizens convicted of capital crimes. Unlike the Comitia Curiata, this comitia included plebeians as well as patricians, but its organization nevertheless gave greater influence to the rich than to the poor. All Roman citizens were registered in tribus (tribes), and a census was made of their property. They were then assigned to classes and centuriae (centuries) according to their wealth and the equipment they could provide for military service. Voting in the Comitia Centuriata proceeded by centuries according to precedence, starting with the equites, followed by the first and wealthiest class; these groups constituted a clear majority over the combined votes of the other four classes if they voted as a block.

In 471 BC the Concilium Plebis was established; this body was organized and voted by tribes, and it consisted exclusively of plebeians and could be summoned and presided over only by the plebeian magistrates, i.e., the tribunes. The Concilium Plebis was originally a relatively small and informal advisory assembly, or concilium, but after the passage of the Lex Hortensia (287 BC) its resolutions, or plebiscita, had the force of law and were binding upon all Roman citizens. The assembly became, in effect, the Comitia Plebis Tributa. Its simpler procedures and the availability of tribunes made this comitia an important legislative body of the middle and later periods of Republican Rome. Its judicial functions, however, were basically limited to fines for noncapital offenses.

The Comitia Populi Tributa was founded around 357 BC in imitation of the Comitia Plebis Tributa, but it differed from the former in that it was an assembly of the whole Roman people, plebeians and patricians, who were organized by tribe. This comitia elected the minor magistrates (curule aediles, quaestors, and military tribunes), held minor trials, and eventually became a regular organ for laws passed by the whole people. Both the Comitia Plebis Tributa and the Comitia Populi Tributa became increasingly influenced by radical tribunes or other demagogic leaders from the period of the Gracchi (c. 130 BC) onward.

Imperial Roman territory extended too widely for more than a few citizens to attend the comitia from distant regions. In spite of the emperor Augustus’ provision for local councillors to vote for Roman comitia in their own towns, the comitia began to decline, and the various elective, legislative, and judicial functions gradually lapsed under the principate. The last piece of recorded legislation by the comitia is an agrarian law carried by the emperor Nerva in AD 98.

There were also comitia in municipia and coloniae for the election of magistrates and the passage of local legislation, but these comitia also decayed under the empire.

 



Curia

Curia (B)

Curia, plural Curiae, in ancient Rome, a political division of the people. According to tradition Romulus, the city’s founder, divided the people into 3 tribes and 30 curiae, each of which in turn was composed of 10 families (gentes). They were the units that made up the primitive assembly of the people, the Comitia Curiata, and were the basis of early Roman military organization. Under the early republic (5th-4th century BC), the curiae gradually lost their political and military importance and functioned mainly as religious bodies, headed by an official called a curio.

“Curia” also designated the meeting place for such a group and came to be applied to other meeting places (including the Senate building) and to other kinds of assemblies.


Curia (W)

Curia (Latin plural curiae) in ancient Rome referred to one of the original groupings of the citizenry, eventually numbering 30, and later every Roman citizen was presumed to belong to one. While they originally likely had wider powers, they only came to meet for a few purposes by the end of the Republic: in order to confirm the election of magistrates with imperium, to witness the installation of priests, the making of wills, and certain adoptions.

The term is more broadly used to designate an assembly, council, or court, in which public, official, or religious issues are discussed and decided. Lesser curiae existed for other purposes. The word curia also came to denote the places of assembly, especially of the senate. Similar institutions existed in other towns and cities of Italy.

 



Proconsul

Proconsul (B)

Proconsul, Latin Pro Consule, or Proconsul, in the ancient Roman Republic, a consul whose powers had been extended for a definite period after his regular term of one year. From the mid-4th century BC the Romans recognized the necessity, during lengthy wars, of extending the terms of certain magistrates; such extension was termed prorogatio. Initially prorogation was voted by the people, but soon the Senate assumed this power. As Rome acquired more overseas territories, prorogation became more common: provincial governors were almost always prorogued magistrates or proconsuls. By the middle republic proconsular powers were sometimes conferred upon private citizens, for example, on Pompey in 77, 66, and 65 BC. Under the empire (after 27 BC), governors of senatorial provinces were called proconsuls. In modern times the title has been used informally of certain powerful colonial officials (e.g., the consul general of British-occupied Egypt).

Proconsul (W)

A proconsul was an official of ancient Rome who acted on behalf of a consul. A proconsul was typically a former consul. The term is also used in recent history for officials with delegated authority.

In the Roman Republic, military command, or imperium, could be exercised constitutionally only by a consul. There were two consuls at a time, each elected to a one-year term. They could not normally serve two terms in a row. If a military campaign was in progress at the end of a consul's term, the consul in command might be appointed as proconsul by the Senate when his term expired. This custom allowed for continuity of command despite the high turnover of consuls. In the Roman Empire, proconsul was a title held by a civil governor and did not imply military command.

 



Procurator

Procurator (B)

Procurator, Latin Procurator, plural Procuratores, government financial agent in ancient Rome. From the reign of the emperor Augustus (27 BC–AD 14), procurators were regularly appointed to official posts in the imperial administration of the provinces or in the departments of the imperial government concerning such matters as the grain supply, the mint, and the mines. Procurators of provinces supervised imperial finances in their respective jurisdictions. In imperial provinces the procurator served under a legate; in senatorial provinces he exercised more authority within the administration of the governor and his quaestor.

Procurators were also appointed to govern, with small troop detachments, certain lesser provinces. These procurators exercised both financial and judicial authority, even in capital cases, but were usually subject to the general authority of the governor of a major province in the region. In the 4th century AD the office was renamed rationalis.


Procurator (W)

Procurator (plural: Procuratores) was a title of certain officials (not magistrates) in ancient Rome who were in charge of the financial affairs of a province, or imperial governor of a minor province.

 



Promagistrate

Promagistrate (W)

In ancient Rome a promagistrate (Latin: pro magistratu) was an ex-consul or ex-praetor whose imperium (the power to command an army) was extended at the end of his annual term of office or later. They were called proconsuls and propraetors. This was an innovation created during the Roman Republic. Initially it was intended to provide additional military commanders to support the armies of the consuls (the two annually elected heads of the Republic and its army) or to lead an additional army. With the acquisitions of territories outside Italy which were annexed as provinces, proconsuls and propraetors became provincial governors or administrators. A third type of promagistrate were the proquaestors.

 



Imperium

Imperium (W)

In ancient Rome, Imperium was a form of authority held by a citizen to control a military or governmental entity. It is distinct from auctoritas and potestas, different and generally inferior types of power in the Roman Republic and Empire. One's imperium could be over a specific military unit, or it could be over a province or territory. Individuals given such power were referred to as curule magistrates or promagistrates. These included the curule aedile, the praetor, the consul, the magister equitum, and the dictator. In a general sense, imperium was the scope of someone's power, and could include anything, such as public office, commerce, political influence, or wealth.

 



Auctoritas

Auctoritas (W)

Auctoritas is a Latin word which is the origin of English "authority".

In ancient Rome, auctoritas referred to the general level of prestige a person had in Roman society, and, as a consequence, his clout, influence, and ability to rally support around his will. Auctoritas was not merely political, however; it had a numinous content and symbolized the mysterious "power of command" of heroic Roman figures.

Noble women could also achieve a degree of auctoritas. For example, the wives, sisters, and mothers of the Julio-Claudians had immense influence on society, the masses, and the political apparatus. Their auctoritas was exercised less overtly than their male counterparts due to Roman societal norms, but they were powerful nonetheless.

 



Potestas

Potestas (W)

Potestas is a Latin word meaning power or faculty. It is an important concept in Roman Law.

The idea of potestas originally referred to the power, through coercion, of a Roman magistrate to promulgate edicts, give action to litigants, etc. This power, in Roman political and legal theory, is considered analogous in kind though lesser in degree to military power. The most important magistrates (such as consuls and praetors) are said to have imperium, which is the ultimate form of potestas, and refers indeed to military power.

Potestas strongly contrasts with the power of the Senate and the prudentes, a common way to refer to Roman jurists. While the magistrates had potestas, the prudentes exercised auctoritas. It is said that auctoritas is a manifestation of socially recognized knowledge, while potestas is a manifestation of socially recognized power. In Roman political theory, both were necessary to guide the res publica and they had to inform each other.

 



Roman citizenship

Roman citizenship (W)

Citizenship in ancient Rome (Latin: civitas) was a privileged political and legal status afforded to free individuals with respect to laws, property, and governance.

  • A male Roman citizen enjoyed a wide range of privileges and protections defined in detail by the Roman state. A citizen could, under certain exceptional circumstances, be deprived of his citizenship.
  • Roman women had a limited form of citizenship. They were not allowed to vote or stand for civil or public office. The rich might participate in public life by funding building projects or sponsoring religious ceremonies and other events. Women had the right to own property, to engage in business, and to obtain a divorce, but their legal rights varied over time. Marriages were an important form of political alliance during the Republic.
  • Client state citizens and allies (socii) of Rome could receive a limited form of Roman citizenship such as the Latin Right. Such citizens could not vote or be elected in Roman elections.
  • Freedmen were former slaves who had gained their freedom. They were not automatically given citizenship and lacked some privileges such as running for executive magistracies. The children of freedmen and women were born as free citizens; for example, the father of the poet Horace was a freedman.
  • Slaves were considered property and lacked legal personhood. Over time, they acquired a few protections under Roman law. Some slaves were freed by manumission for services rendered, or through a testamentary provision when their master died. Once free, they faced few barriers, beyond normal social snobbery, to participating in Roman society. The principle that a person could become a citizen by law rather than birth was enshrined in Roman mythology; when Romulus defeated the Sabines in battle, he promised the war captives that were in Rome they could become citizens.

 

Possible rights

  • Ius suffragii: The right to vote in the Roman assemblies.
  • Ius honorum: The right to stand for civil or public office.
  • Ius commercii: The right to make legal contracts and to hold property as a Roman citizen.
  • Ius gentium: The legal recognition, developed in the 3rd century BC, of the growing international scope of Roman affairs, and the need for Roman law to deal with situations between Roman citizens and foreign persons. The ius gentium was therefore a Roman legal codification of the widely accepted international law of the time, and was based on the highly developed commercial law of the Greek city-states and of other maritime powers. The rights afforded by the ius gentium were considered to be held by all persons; it is thus a concept of human rights rather than rights attached to citizenship.
  • Ius conubii: The right to have a lawful marriage with a Roman citizen according to Roman principles to have the legal rights of the paterfamilias over the family, and for the children of any such marriage to be counted as Roman citizens.
  • Ius migrationis: The right to preserve one's level of citizenship upon relocation to a polis of comparable status. For example, members of the cives Romani (see below) maintained their full civitas when they migrated to a Roman colony with full rights under the law: a colonia civium Romanorum. Latins also had this right, and maintained their ius Latii if they relocated to a different Latin state or Latin colony (Latina colonia). This right did not preserve one's level of citizenship should one relocate to a colony of lesser legal status; full Roman citizens relocating to a Latina colonia were reduced to the level of the ius Latii, and such a migration and reduction in status had to be a voluntary act.
  • The right of immunity from some taxes and other legal obligations, especially local rules and regulations.
  • The right to sue in the courts and the right to be sued.
  • The right to have a legal trial (to appear before a proper court and to defend oneself).
  • The right to appeal from the decisions of magistrates and to appeal the lower court decisions.
  • Following the early 2nd-century BC Porcian Laws, a Roman citizen could not be tortured or whipped and could commute sentences of death to voluntary exile, unless he was found guilty of treason.
  • If accused of treason, a Roman citizen had the right to be tried in Rome, and even if sentenced to death, no Roman citizen could be sentenced to die on the cross.

 

Roman citizenship was required in order to enlist in the Roman legions, but this was sometimes ignored. Citizen soldiers could be beaten by the centurions and senior officers for reasons related to discipline. Non-citizens joined the Auxilia and gained citizenship through service.

Classes of citizenship

The legal classes varied over time, however the following classes of legal status existed at various times within the Roman state:

Cives Romani

The cives Romani were full Roman citizens, who enjoyed full legal protection under Roman law. Cives Romani were sub-divided into two classes:

  • The non optimo iure who held the ius commercii and ius conubii (rights of property and marriage)
  • The optimo iure, who also held these rights as well as the ius suffragii and ius honorum (the additional rights to vote and to hold office).

Latini

The Latini were a class of citizens who held the Latin Right (ius Latii), or the rights of ius commercii and ius migrationis, but not the ius conubii. The term Latini originally referred to the Latins, citizens of the Latin League who came under Roman control at the close of the Latin War, but eventually became a legal description rather than a national or ethnic one. Freedmen slaves, those of the cives Romani convicted of crimes, or citizens settling Latin colonies could be given this status under the law.

Socii

Socii or foederati were citizens of states which had treaty obligations with Rome, under which typically certain legal rights of the state's citizens under Roman law were exchanged for agreed levels of military service, i.e. the Roman magistrates had the right to levy soldiers for the Roman legions from those states. However, foederati states that had at one time been conquered by Rome were exempt from payment of tribute to Rome due to their treaty status.

Growing dissatisfaction with the rights afforded to the socii, and with the growing manpower demands of the legions (due to the protracted Jugurthine War and the Cimbrian War) led eventually to the Social War of 91–88 BC in which the Italian allies revolted against Rome.

The Lex Julia (in full the Lex Iulia de Civitate Latinis Danda), passed in 90 BC, granted the rights of the cives Romani to all Latini and socii states that had not participated in the Social War, or who were willing to cease hostilities immediately. This was extended to all the Italian socii states when the war ended (except for Gallia Cisalpina), effectively eliminating socii and Latini as legal and citizenship definitions.

Provinciales

Provinciales were those people who fell under Roman influence, or control, but who lacked even the rights of the Foederati, essentially having only the rights of the ius gentium.

Peregrini

A peregrinus (plural peregrini) was originally any person who was not a full Roman citizen, that is someone who was not a member of the cives Roman. With the expansion of Roman law to include more gradations of legal status, this term became less used, but the term peregrini included those of the Latini, socii, and provinciales, as well as those subjects of foreign states.

 


The Edict of Caracalla (W)

The Edict of Caracalla (officially the Constitutio Antoniniana in Latin: "Constitution [or Edict] of Antoninus") was an edict issued in AD 212 by the Roman Emperor Caracalla, which declared that all free men in the Roman Empire were to be given full Roman citizenship and all free women in the Empire were given the same rights as Roman women. Before 212, for the most part only inhabitants of Italia held full Roman citizenship. Colonies of Romans established in other provinces, Romans (or their descendants) living in provinces, the inhabitants of various cities throughout the Empire, and a few local nobles (such as kings of client countries) also held full citizenship. Provincials, on the other hand, were usually non-citizens, although some held the Latin Right.

...

However, by the century previous to Caracalla, Roman citizenship had already lost much of its exclusiveness and become more available.

 



Civitas

Civitas (W)

In the history of Rome, the Latin term civitas (plural civitates), according to Cicero in the time of the late Roman Republic, was the social body of the cives, or citizens, united by law (concilium coetusque hominum jure sociati). It is the law that binds them together, giving them responsibilities (munera) on the one hand and rights of citizenship on the other. The agreement (concilium) has a life of its own, creating a res publica or "public entity" (synonymous with civitas), into which individuals are born or accepted, and from which they die or are ejected. The civitas is not just the collective body of all the citizens, it is the contract binding them all together, because each of them is a civis.

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Civitas was a popular and widely used word in ancient Rome, with reflexes in modern times. Over the centuries the usage broadened into a spectrum of meaning cited by the larger Latin dictionaries: it could mean in addition to the citizenship established by the constitution the legal city-state, or res publica, the populus of that res publica (not people as people but people as citizens), any city state either proper or state-like, even ideal, or (mainly under the empire) the physical city, or urbs. Under that last meaning some places took on the name, civitas, or incorporated it into their name, with the later civita or civida as reflexes.

 



Rex Romae

Rex Romae (W)

The King of Rome (Latin: Rex Romae) was the chief magistrate of the Roman Kingdom. According to legend, the first king of Rome was Romulus, who founded the city in 753 BC upon the Palatine Hill. Seven legendary kings are said to have ruled Rome until 509 BC, when the last king was overthrown. These kings ruled for an average of 35 years.

The kings after Romulus were not known to be dynasts and no reference is made to the hereditary principle until after the fifth king Tarquinius Priscus. Consequently, some have assumed that the Tarquins and their attempt to institute a hereditary monarchy over this conjectured earlier elective monarchy resulted in the formation of the republic.

Overview

Early Rome was not self-governing, and was ruled by the king (rex). The king possessed absolute power over the people. The senate was a weak oligarchy, capable of exercising only minor administrative powers, so that Rome was ruled by its king who was in effect an absolute monarch. The senate's main function was to carry out and administer the wishes of the king. After Romulus, Rome's first legendary king, Roman kings were elected by the people of Rome, sitting as a Curiate Assembly, who voted on the candidate that had been nominated by a chosen member of the senate called an interrex. Candidates for the throne could be chosen from any source. For example, one such candidate, Lucius Tarquinius Priscus, was originally a citizen and migrant from a neighboring Etruscan city-state. The people of Rome, sitting as the Curiate Assembly, could then either accept or reject the nominated candidate-king.

The insignia of the king was twelve lictors wielding the fasces, a throne of a Curule chair, the purple Toga Picta, red shoes, and a white diadem around the head. Only the king could wear a purple toga.

The supreme power of the state was vested in the rex, whose position gave the following powers:

Chief Executive

Beyond his religious authority, the king was invested with the supreme military, executive, and judicial authority through the use of imperium. The imperium of the king was held for life and protected him from ever being brought to trial for his actions. As being the sole owner of imperium in Rome at the time, the king possessed ultimate executive power and unchecked military authority as the commander-in-chief of all Rome's legions. His executive power and his sole imperium allowed him to issue decrees with the force of law. Also, the laws that kept citizens safe from the misuse of magistrates owning imperium did not exist during the times of the king.

Another power of the king was the power to either appoint or nominate all officials to offices. The king would appoint a tribunus celerum to serve as both the tribune of Ramnes tribe in Rome but also as the commander of the king's personal bodyguard, the Celeres. The king was required to appoint the tribune upon entering office and the tribune left office upon the king's death. The tribune was second in rank to the king and also possessed the power to convene the Curiate Assembly and lay legislation before it.

Another officer appointed by the king was the praefectus urbi, which acted as the warden of the city. When the king was absent from the city, the prefect held all of the king's powers and abilities, even to the point of being bestowed with imperium while inside the city. The king even received the right to be the sole person to appoint patricians to the Senate.

Chief Judge

The king's imperium granted him both military powers as well as qualified him to pronounce legal judgment in all cases as the chief justice of Rome. Although he could assign pontiffs to act as minor judges in some cases, he had supreme authority in all cases brought before him, both civil and criminal. This made the king supreme in times of both war and peace. While some writers believed there was no appeal from the king's decisions, others believed that a proposal for appeal could be brought before the king by any patrician during a meeting of the Curiate Assembly.

To assist the king, a council advised the king during all trials, but this council had no power to control the king's decisions. Also, two criminal detectives (Quaestores Parridici) were appointed by him as well as a two-man criminal court (Duumviri Perduellionis) which oversaw for cases of treason.

Chief Legislator

Under the kings, the Senate and Curiate Assembly had very little power and authority; they were not independent bodies in that they possessed the right to meet together and discuss questions of state. They could only be called together by the king and could only discuss the matters the king laid before them. While the Curiate Assembly did have the power to pass laws that had been submitted by the king, the Senate was effectively an honorable council. It could advise the king on his action but, by no means, could prevent him from acting. The only thing that the king could not do without the approval of the Senate and Curiate Assembly was to declare war against a foreign nation. These issues effectively allowed the King to more or less rule by decree with the exception of the above-mentioned affairs.

Election

Whenever a Roman king died, Rome entered a period of interregnum (literally: between kings). Supreme power in the state would be devolved to the Senate, which had the task of finding a new king. The Senate would assemble and appoint one of its own members as the interrex to serve for a period of five days with the sole purpose of nominating the next king of Rome. After the five-day period, the interrex would appoint (with the Senate's consent) another Senator for another five-day term. This process would continue until the election of a new king. Once the interrex found a suitable nominee for the kingship, he would bring the nominee before the Senate and the Senate would examine him. If the Senate confirmed the nomination, the interrex would convene the Curiate Assembly and preside as its chairman during the election of the King.

Once a candidate was proposed to the Curiate Assembly, the people of Rome could either accept or reject the King-elect. If accepted, the King-elect did not immediately take office: two additional acts had to take place before he was invested with the full regal authority and power. First, it was necessary to obtain the divine will of the gods respecting his appointment by means of the auspices, since the king would serve as high priest of Rome. An augur performed this ceremony by conducting the King-elect to the citadel where he was placed on a stone seat as the people waited below. If the King-elect was found worthy of the kingship, the augur announced that the gods had given favourable tokens, thus confirming the King-elect’s priestly character. Second the imperium had to be conferred upon the King. The Curiate Assembly's vote only determined who was to be King, but that act did not bestow the powers of the king upon him. Accordingly, the King himself proposed to the Curiate Assembly a bill granting him imperium, and the Curiate Assembly, by voting in favour of the law, would grant it.

In theory, the people of Rome elected their leader, but the Senate had most of the control over the process.

 

 

 



Triumviri

Triumviri (W)

Originally, triumviri were special commissions of three men appointed for specific administrative tasks apart from the regular duties of Roman magistrates. The triumviri capitales, for instance, oversaw prisons and executions, along with other functions that, as Andrew Lintott notes, show them to have been "a mixture of police superintendents and justices of the peace." The capitales were first established around 290–287 BCE. They were supervised by the praetor urbanus. These triumviri, or the tresviri nocturni, may also have taken some responsibility for fire control. The triumviri monetalis ("triumviri of the temple of Juno the Advisor" or "monetary triumvirs") supervised the issuing of Roman coins.

Three-man commissions were also appointed for purposes such as establishing colonies (triumviri coloniae deducendae) or distributing land. Triumviri mensarii served as public bankers; the full range of their financial functions in 216 BCE, when the commission included two men of consular rank, has been the subject of debate. Another form of three-man commission was the tresviri epulones, who were in charge of organizing public feasts on holidays. This commission was created in 196 BCE by a tribunician law on behalf of the people, and their number was later increased to seven (septemviri epulones).

The term is most commonly used by historians to refer to the First Triumvirate of Julius Caesar, Marcus Licinius Crassus, and Pompey the Great, and the Second Triumvirate of Octavianus (later Caesar Augustus), Mark Antony, and Marcus Aemilius Lepidus.



The First Triumvirate of the Roman Republic: Gnaeus Pompeius (Pompey), Marcus Licinius Crassus, and Gaius Julius Caesar.

 

 



Decemviri

Decemviri (W)

The decemviri or decemvirs (Latin for "ten men") were any of several 10-man commissions established by the Roman Republic.

The most important were those of the two Decemvirates, formally the "Decemvirs Writing the Laws with Consular Imperium" (Latin: Decemviri Legibus Scribundis Consulari Imperio) who reformed and codified Roman law during the Conflict of the Orders between ancient Rome's patrician aristocracy and plebeian commoners. Other decemviri include the "Decemviri Adjudging Litigation" (Decemviri Stlitibus Judicandis), the "Decemviri Making Sacrifices" (Decemviri Sacris Faciundis), and the "Decemviri Distributing Public Lands" (Decemviri Agris Dandis Adsignandis).

 



Pontifex maximus

Pontifex maximus (W)

The pontifex maximus (Latin, "greatest priest") was the chief high priest of the College of Pontiffs (Collegium Pontificum) in ancient Rome. This was the most important position in the ancient Roman religion, open only to patricians until 254 BC, when a plebeian first occupied this post. A distinctly religious office under the early Roman Republic, it gradually became politicized until, beginning with Augustus, it was subsumed into the Imperial office. Its last use with reference to the emperors is in inscriptions of Gratian (reigned 375–383) who, however, then decided to omit the words "pontifex maximus" from his title. Although in fact the most powerful office of Roman priesthood, the pontifex maximus was officially ranked fifth in the ranking of the highest Roman priests (ordo sacerdotum), behind the rex sacrorum and the flamines maiores (Flamen Dialis, Flamen Martialis, Flamen Quirinalis).



Augustus as Pontifex Maximus (Via Labicana Augustus).

 

 



Roman magistrate

Roman magistrate (W)

The Roman magistrates were elected officials in Ancient Rome.

During the period of the Roman Kingdom, the King of Rome was the principal executive magistrate. His power, in practice, was absolute. He was the chief priest, lawgiver, judge, and the sole commander of the army. When the king died, his power reverted to the Roman Senate, which then chose an Interrex to facilitate the election of a new king.

During the transition from monarchy to republic, the constitutional balance of power shifted from the executive (the Roman king) to the Roman Senate. When the Roman Republic was founded in 509 BC, the powers that had been held by the king were transferred to the Roman consuls, of which two were to be elected each year. Magistrates of the republic were elected by the people of Rome, and were each vested with a degree of power called "major powers" (maior potestas). Dictators had more "major powers" than any other magistrate, and after the Dictator was the censor, and then the consul, and then the praetor, and then the curule aedile, and then the quaestor. Any magistrate could obstruct ("veto") an action that was being taken by a magistrate with an equal or lower degree of magisterial powers. By definition, plebeian tribunes and plebeian aediles were technically not magistrates since they were elected only by the plebeians, and as such, they were independent of all other powerful magistrates.

During the transition from republic to the Roman empire, the constitutional balance of power shifted from the Roman Senate back to the executive (the Roman Emperor). Theoretically, the senate elected each new emperor; in practice each emperor chose his own successor, though the choice was often overruled by the army or civil war. The powers of an emperor (his imperium) existed, in theory at least, by virtue of his legal standing. The two most significant components to an emperor's imperium were the "tribunician powers" and the "proconsular powers". In theory at least, the tribunician powers (which were similar to those of the plebeian tribunes under the old republic) gave the emperor authority over Rome's civil government, while the proconsular powers (similar to those of military governors, or proconsuls, under the old republic) gave him authority over the Roman army. While these distinctions were clearly defined during the early empire, eventually they were lost, and the emperor's powers became less constitutional and more monarchical. The traditional magistracies that survived the fall of the republic were the consulship, praetorship, plebeian tribunate, aedileship, quaestorship, and military tribunate. Mark Antony abolished the offices of dictator and Master of the Horse during his Consulship in 44 BC, while the offices of Interrex and Roman censor were abolished shortly thereafter.

 



Equites

Equites (W)

The equites (Latin: eques nom. singular; sometimes referred to as "knights" in modern times) constituted the second of the property-based classes of ancient Rome, ranking below the senatorial class. A member of the equestrian order was known as an eques.

Description
During the Roman kingdom and the first century of the Roman Republic, legionary cavalry was recruited exclusively from the ranks of the patricians, who were expected to provide six centuriae of cavalry (300 horses for each consular legion). Around 400 BC, 12 more centuriae of cavalry were established and these included non-patricians (plebeians). Around 300 BC the Samnite Wars obliged Rome to double the normal annual military levy from two to four legions, doubling the cavalry levy from 600 to 1,200 horses. Legionary cavalry started to recruit wealthier citizens from outside the 18 centuriae. These new recruits came from the first class of commoners in the Centuriate Assembly organisation and were not granted the same privileges.

By the time of the Second Punic War (218-202 BC), all the members of the first class of commoners were required to serve as cavalrymen. The presence of equites in the Roman cavalry diminished steadily in the period 200-88 BC as only equites could serve as the army's senior officers; as the number of legions proliferated fewer were available for ordinary cavalry service. After c. 88 BC, equites were no longer drafted into the legionary cavalry, although they remained technically liable to such service throughout the principate era (to AD 284). They continued to supply the senior officers of the army throughout the principate.

With the exception of the purely hereditary patricians, the equites were originally defined by a property threshold. The rank was passed from father to son, although members of the order who at the regular quinquennial census no longer met the property requirement were usually removed from the order's rolls by the Roman censors. In the late republic, the property threshold stood at 50,000 denarii and was doubled to 100,000 by the emperor Augustus (sole rule 30 BC – AD 14) – roughly the equivalent to the annual salaries of 450 contemporary legionaries.

In the later republican period, Roman senators and their offspring became an unofficial elite within the equestrian order. As senators' abilities to engage in commerce was strictly limited by law, the bulk of non-agricultural activities were in the hands of non-senatorial equites. As well as holding large landed estates, equites came to dominate mining, shipping and manufacturing industry. In particular, tax farming companies (publicani) were almost all in the hands of equites.

Under Augustus, the senatorial elite was given formal status (as the ordo senatorius) with a higher wealth threshold (250,000 denarii, or the pay of 1,100 legionaries) and superior rank and privileges to ordinary equites. During the principate, equites filled the senior administrative and military posts of the imperial government. There was a clear division between jobs reserved for senators (the most senior) and those reserved for non-senatorial equites. But the career structure of both groups was broadly similar: a period of junior administrative posts in Rome or Italy, followed by a period (normally a decade) of military service as a senior army officer, followed by senior administrative or military posts in the provinces. Senators and equites formed a tiny elite of under 10,000 members who monopolised political, military and economic power in an empire of about 60 million inhabitants.

During the 3rd century AD, power shifted from the Italian aristocracy to a class of equites who had earned their membership by distinguished military service, often rising from the ranks: career military officers from the provinces (especially the Balkan provinces) who displaced the Italian aristocrats in the top military posts, and under Diocletian (ruled 284–305) from the top civilian positions also. This effectively reduced the Italian aristocracy to an idle, but immensely wealthy, group of landowners. During the 4th century, the status of equites was debased to insignificance by excessive grants of the rank. At the same time the ranks of senators were swollen to over 4,000 by the establishment of a second senate in Constantinople and the tripling of the membership of both senates. The senatorial order of the 4th century was thus the equivalent of the equestrian order of the principate.

 




📹 The Roman Pomerium (VİDEO)

📹 The Roman Pomerium (LINK)

The pomerium or pomoerium was a religious boundary around the city of Rome and cities controlled by Rome. In legal terms, Rome existed only within its pomerium; everything beyond it was simply territory (ager) belonging to Rome. (W)

 



📹 Roman social and political structures / Khan Academy (VİDEO)

Roman social and political structures / Khan Academy (LINK)

Patricians and plebeians; Roman citizens and Senate and consuls: the political and social structures of ancient Rome.

 







 



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